County Ballot Cam will give residents view of the election process

Does every vote count? Then hook up to the Internet and watch the live video on Yuma County's Web site as ballots are being counted for the upcoming presidential election season.

HB 2785 law requires counties to provide a live video feed for whatever is going on in counting center as the ballots are actually being tabulated.

The video feed will be linked to the Yuma County homepage at www.co.yuma.az. The Yuma County Elections Department expects to begin receiving completed early ballots at 8 a.m.

Sue Stallworth, Yuma County elections director, deems it as a transparent process from the time the ballots arrive in the counting center. The live video includes date and time indicators and also will be linked to the Arizona secretary of state's Web site. Also, there is a counter that shows how many clicks the Ballot Cam received.

"So, what you see is just a view of the elections office and you can see the safe where the ballots are stored 98 percent of the time ...," Stallworth said. "The only time that they come out is when they are actually going to be tabulated or they are going to the early ballot board to verify signatures, then they're right back in the safe."

If the live video feed is disrupted or disabled, the recorder or officer in charge is not liable but will attempt to reinstate video coverage as soon as possible. The Arizona Secretary of State's homepage is www.azsos.gov/election/CountyLiveVideoLinks.htm.

"This is just another way to show the public that the elections are being handled in a secure and accurate way," Stallworth said. "It's just a building of trust ..."

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Stephanie Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@yumasun.com or 539-6847.