Leon County election leaders take steps to protect election integrity and voters


Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley’s team has been auditing ballots since the beginning of early voting. The audit recounts each vote through a separate system. Watch the video to hear what steps are being taken to keep voters safe at the polls:

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Leon County Supervisor of Election Mark Earley’s staff geared up for thousands of votes to be cast Tuesday.

Monday, they audited votes already tabulated for early voting to make sure they were accurate.

“It’s called an Automated Independent Audit,” Earley said. “It’s a voting system that allows the ballots coming from the tabulation system that have already been counted to go through a completely independent system. The only thing those two systems share in common is that paper ballot and the face they have been tested and certified.”

The audit is something they do with each and every ballot per Florida law.

They also have staff that examines each of the mail-in-ballots sent to the office and put in drop boxes across the county.

The security of the vote is not the only thing they have their eyes on.

Earley told me they will work with law enforcement to keep voters safe.

He said no instances of violence or harassment have been reported in Leon County.

“We’ve been in very close communication and planning with the sheriff’s department, the Tallahassee Police Department, campus police departments but also at the federal level and the state level,” Earley said. “We have close coordination with the FBI, some of the federal agencies, homeland security.”

Earley said to turn to the supervisor’s office for any questions about election integrity.

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