After polls closed on election night, sealed ballot bags, memory drives, and paper tapes began arriving at the Alamance County Board of Elections office, where officials prepared to count the results.
At 8:05 p.m., the first election judge pulled into the parking lot. Within 10 minutes, a line stretched behind them as precinct workers waited to check in provisional ballots and hand over the materials that would determine the night’s outcome.
As the poll workers rolled in, they first dropped off their provisional ballots with Nichole Matherly, the registration coordinator for Alamance County.
“I'll be at the provisional table,” Matherly said. “So the people that were at the wrong precinct or had some issues for some reason had to vote a provisional ballot.”
It is Matherly's first election working in this position. She said she hopes people see how much work election officials put in behind the scenes.
“Once the precincts close at 7:30, job’s not done. They have to come and return everything,” Matherly said.
She described the process of counting each returned ballot to ensure all votes are accounted for appropriately.
Sylvia Mand, an elections judge for poll 125 located at Grove Park Baptist Church, said that election day is long but also fulfilling, as she gets to help voters cast their ballots.
“It makes me excited,” Mand said. I don’t care who you’re voting for, just come out and vote.”
Mand said she is grateful for the security precautions the county takes with the transportation of ballots.
“When we look at the system of checks and balances here, and the way they make sure that every vote is valid,” Mand said. “It's really good to know.”
Within an hour and a half, materials from all 39 Alamance County polling places had arrived at the office, and election workers settled in for a long night of calculating results and organizing materials, a process that will repeat as the county prepares for the November midterms.