Benoit To Look Into Slow Election Night Vote Count

Despite his win, County Supervisor John Benoit was a bit tired on Wednesday.

?You know, I got to bed around 4:30am,? he said. ?(I) had to get up at 7am to go to Riverside. I’m looking forward to getting a little nap later today.?

The reason he went to bed so late: he was waiting for the results of his election race. The final numbers came in at daybreak.

?I realize the county is doing the best job it possibly can in counting the votes,? he said, ?But yeah. I’d like to hear them that night.?

Benoit says ever since the state switched back to paper ballots a couple of years ago, counting the votes has been a slow process, considering the size of Riverside County.

Each paper ballot has to be processed through a scanner.

?That has to be translated into an overall calculation, and then all that has to be put in the Secretary of State’s system. And then, each of these steps takes time.?

According to Benoit, by 3am Wednesday, Riverside County was the slowest county in the state. Fifty-one of the 58 counties already had all of their ballots counted. Riverside County was just at the midway mark.

?Well, that’s what happens all the time,? Benoit said. ?So, what else can you do??

Benoit plans to fix it. He says he’s going to talk with Barbara Dunmore, the county registrar.

?I wonder if there’s any possibility that we can count more of the absentees earlier, and if we could have voting tabulation machines here in the Coachella Valley, so these ballots don’t have to drive an hour and a half to be counted up there (Riverside).?