Voters in San Francisco: have you ever wondered how you are able to get detailed ballot status updates even after your ballot is removed from its envelope, if your vote is supposed to be secret?

A mini-thread that applies to San Francisco, but probably CA at large too.

Earlier today, I went on a tour of San Francisco's ballot processing center, which is inside Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. All ballots go through there to be counted.

The only voter-identifying information is on the *envelope*: your name, your address, and your signature.

Once your ballot is removed from its envelope, there is only *precinct* identifying information.

So when ballots come in, they are sorted by precinct, and then processed and counted in those batches. The "ballot status" tool really only identifies if your ballot batch was counted, *not* your individual ballot.

You might ask, "What if only a couple people returned ballots from a precinct? Wouldn't they be able to identify how you voted?"

They would. That's why they don't count batches until a minimum number of ballots are received. It may take longer to count your ballot due to this

This is a question I have had for a long time, and it was *really* cool to see up close how they are able to balance anonymity of your vote with fine-grained tracking capabilities!

Want to watch this election process live? San Francisco County streams it!! Go here and click on "Schedule of Activities": https://sfelections.sfgov.org/observe-election-process

Here, for example, is the live stream of sorting and scanning of vote-by-mail envelopes: https://sfelections.sfgov.org/sorting-scanning-and-verifying-signatures-vote-mail-envelopes-preparation-ballot-counting