The ballot counter leafs through the ballots, handing his partner one at a time Oct. 29. He said typically he would be licking his fingers to get through the ballots more quickly, but COVID has put a halt to that.

An inside look at the ballot counting process

Kate Vanni, Layout and Illustrations Editor

November 3, 2020

Close up of a ballot counting machine as the counters wait for more ballots to be handed to them Oct. 29. There is one ballot counting machine assigned to each Ward for the ballot counting process. (Kate Vanni)

The ballot counter leafs through the ballots, handing his partner one at a time Oct. 29. He said typically he would be licking his fingers to get through the ballots more quickly, but COVID has put a halt to that. (Kate Vanni)

One of the ballot counters pulls out a receipt that shows how many votes each candidate has received Oct. 29. The receipt shows zero votes for all candidates until the end of the night when the two counters tell the machine to tabulate the data. (Kate Vanni)

All write-in options are not processed by the ballot machine. Instead the two ballot counters must go through the ballots together and record all of the write-in options. (Kate Vanni)

This member of the Ward 7 cohort is a UVM alumna. (Kate Vanni)

If a ballot’s bubble are filled out incorrectly, the ballot counters will fill out another ballot together to make sure the votes get counted. (Kate Vanni)

A ballot counter stands by the opening of the ballot counting machine, waiting for the next ballot to be handed to him Oct. 29. (Kate Vanni)

A tally panel shows how many ballots have been counted. The machine counted 1252 ballots in 30 minutes. (Kate Vanni)

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