Election official outlines 12-step ballot processing at Wacom County Auditor’s Office

An election official with the Wacom County Auditor’s Office walked through the office’s 12-step process for handling returned ballots, saying the central processing center operates in the courthouse basement (room 103) and that strict chain-of-custody, signature review and secure storage procedures are used.

The overview matters because those procedures determine whether returned ballots are accepted, how signature issues are cured, when tabulation results are published and when an election is certified. The office emphasized multiple safeguards including dual-staff verification, an envelope-sorting machine that photographs signatures, and air‑gapped storage for ballot images.

The official said ballots are collected by two election workers and by equipment that routinely retrieves items from the post office and official drop boxes. Return slots remain open until 8:00 p.m. on election day; when staff are not collecting…