Is it lawful for Santa Barbara County Elections to count ballots before Election Day?
On 10/17/2022, I received a text message from BallotTrax, a Denver Colorado company that my ballot had been received and counted already.
Santa Barbara County is single party-controlled at all levels of government including the Elections Office.
Early counting can enable the Santa Barbara County Elections Staff to receive vote count updates to in turn tell partisan party leaders how to target ballot harvesting, canvassing and voters. Ballot counts are updated, maybe daily, to know exactly how many votes are needed by a candidate or proposition by district to win.
My understanding as per the U.S. Constitution is that only state legislatures and state courts have the constitutional authority to determine exactly how elections are conducted.
Is there California legislation related to counting ballots early, hiring an out of state firm to process ballots, or to close some of our local in-person precinct voting locations? Is there any remedy for concerned locals?
Denice Spangler Adams
Montecito
