MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Election officials said they have scanned around 10,000 ballots, which is a little less than half of absentee ballots received, but it is a lengthy process.
The process goes as follows:
The ballots arrived to FedEx Forum in bins and from there they are weighed to make sure each team has the correct assignment of three hundred ballots.
Then bipartisan teams of two start counting, examining and opening ballots. After that, there is another count with a second team and reconciliation process before they are finally scanned.
The election commission said it is necessary to ensure this process is successful.
“It’s a very precise process because if you don’t keep control of it, you run the risk of not scanning some ballots or scanning some ballots twice and that would be inappropriate,” Linda Phillips, the Shelby County Election Administrator, said.
They hope to have the process here done by the time the last person votes. What will take more time are the ballots that come in the 5:30 mail on Tuesday.
Those will go through the same process at the operations center.