Deschutes County election workers undertake the process of counting, verifying ballots

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Ballots are being counted at the Deschutes County Building. When ballots come in, whether it's via mail, or dropped off at the lobby, ballots are run through a sorter, verifying they're valid ballots. They are then moved to be counted by the election boards for processing. 

There are about 40 county employees, along with on-call workers and partners from other departments, first making sure the envelopes hold ballots. Once the ballots have been removed and unfolded, they are scanned and tabulated in the secure voting system. 

 Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison talked about the great work being done. 

"We take an enormous amount of pride in what we do," he said. "It's not just me, it's our staff. It's all the people here in our office that are here year-round, dedicated to our office and to the county and the work we do. It's also all the on-call people that help us out that you just saw in the other room."

"An incredible amount of pride," Dennison said. "I think people really like playing a part and being a part of this democracy and seeing it through, make sure that it's done properly and accurately."

Results are being released about every two hours.