Elections Collide: How Imperial County is still counting votes from recall election and receiving votes for November election

The registrar of voters said the department is overwhelmed with mail-in ballots - 13 On Your Side’s Vince Ybarra reports 

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KECY, KYMA) - The county is experiencing a collision of elections. The registrar of voters said they are still counting votes from the recall election and it recently sent out mail-in ballots for the Consolidated Election on November 2. 

Linsey Dale, Registrar of Voters, said the amount of in-person voting has decreased and mail-in voting has increased. The increase of mail-in ballots have the department working overtime. 

“We have to bring in all of that extra help because we still do have to process all of those by hand,” said Dale. 

She said they have until October 14 to certify the gubernatorial election. Even though the outcome of that election is known, Dale said the department counts every vote. 

She said improvements to the counting system will be upgraded soon. 

“We are in the process of upgrading the department so for the June primary, the voters are going to see a whole different election process,” said the registrar of voters. 

In January, the county will receive a new machine that will county mail in ballots. This will be used in the primary election. Dale said this is going to speed up the counting process. She said staff will begin training on the new ballot counting device as soon as possible and the department will be ready for the June primary election.