Orange County using new technology to make sure ballots are safe and secure

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (KABC) -- With one week left until Election Day, Orange County is making sure all votes are safe and secured.

Ballots have already began coming in and the county's Registrar of Voters Bob Page said safety and security are the top priorities.

"Security is not something you rest on from one election to the next and think you have everything handled. You are constantly looking at ways to improve your processes," he said.

Eyewitness News was given a tour of the facility Tuesday where the ballots will be received and counted. The ballots from collection boxes come in sealed and there are special procedures that must be followed.

"Whenever we're handling voter ballots, you have two people assigned to that. They will go to each box, they're given random routes every day so they don't do the same driving route so they have that extra safety measure," Page said.

He says he knows election integrity is a key topic of interest among voters and says they're transparent about the process.

There are cameras and monitors tracking every step.

Plus, new this year are cameras at every station. That means now, people can actually see as each ballot is taken out of the envelope and put into the system.

There are areas where outside monitors can come and watch the process.

There were several spotted on Tuesday at the signature verification area. Each ballot is checked to make sure it matches the signature on file.

"It's hard because it's four signatures at a time and sometimes they're going, you know, so fast that, you know, you'd like to slow the process down a little bit, but I think for the most part, it's done as well as we can," said Karen Sewell, one of the observers.

Thirty-seven vote centers opened last weekend in Orange County and another 144 will open this weekend.

So far, 245,000 ballots have been returned out of 1.3 million registered voters.

Officials feel confident, but they're also working with law enforcement in case there are any threats.

"The Department of Justice is taking serious any threats to election workers in the country and so they're making sure that they have the staff in the field ready to serve us if we do get threats," said Page.