An Interview with Juan Pablo Cervantes About the Humboldt County Elections Process
In the wake of ongoing concerns about election integrity, Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Juan Pablo Cervantes provided insights into the local election process. “What we do is we post results, and we do them accurately and securely as we get those results from counting the ballots,” Cervantes explained.
He noted that in California, all actively registered voters receive a mail-in ballot, with a significant portion returned close to Election Day. Cervantes described the steps taken to ensure the validity of mail-in ballots, including signature verification and additional reviews if needed. “We check each signature on a vote by mail envelope and match it to the file on the voters voter registration prior to opening that ballot, two people do that if the signature doesn’t match, additional reviews and extra steps are taken to make sure that we get a hold of the voter so that we can cure the issue with their signature.”
The registrar also mentioned the upcoming 1% manual hand count audit of all ballots to verify the accuracy of the machine count. “As we’re as we’re getting closer to processing all of these ballots, we’re also starting to get together a team of county employees to do a 1% audit, basically, of all of the ballots where they hand count them and ensure that the machines are doing what we told them to do.”
Cervantes emphasized the importance of community involvement, noting that hiring election workers from the local area not only helps with the workload but also allows residents to witness the transparent process firsthand. “When we hire election workers, we see it as a two fold opportunity, one to get help in doing this work…but it also allows the community to be involved and to see how we do things, to see firsthand the levels we go to do things transparently, efficiently and accessibly.”
As Humboldt County continues the ballot counting process, Cervantes assured the public that the election office is committed to accuracy and accessibility throughout the certification period.
