ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — The election is less than a month away and the count has already begun in Anne Arundel County.
With a high voter turnout this will be a big task to count all those votes.
Deputy Director for the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections, David Garreis has the staff and equipment to count all the votes come this November. Inside their warehouse are 100 staff members.
Since October 3, the county has received 16,000 votes back, 10,000 through the drop box and 6,000 by mail. That many returns this early gives these volunteers 3 maybe 4 times the work of a regular election year.
"But we're happy to do it and we're glad people are exercising their right to vote and people are excited to come out to vote this time."
Garreis says about 100 people are here to make sure the count is right . Not even 1 percent are rejected and 90 percent of the time it's because the voter did not sign the oath.
Garreis says he hopes the high-speed counter will count 10,000 votes a day leading up to the election.
"If the high-speed counter sees a problem, it will kick it out like this one," he explained.
If a card comes up with a problem, they send it to a 5-member board and they must say unanimously if it will be counted or rejected.
" It's not something that where they can decide 3-2 or 4-1, it has to be a unanimous decision."
It seems like a simple process, you check a box and somebody counts it, but there's a lot involved to make sure the security and accuracy are correct.
"We got everybody working 6 days a week. We are working 12 - 14 hours a day," he explained.
As in any large event, problems will arise and Garreis says they are prepared
