How official election results will be certified in Missouri

MISSOURI. (KOAM) - When your ballot leaves your hand on November 5th, you won't be the last person to see it.

Your ballot is dropped to the bottom of a tabulator or ballot box, it isn't copied or destroyed.

When polls officially close, tabulator machines wrap up their numbers from all precincts, and election officials begin their count as well.

But that is just the first step in a nearly month long process to certify official election results and make sure your vote is counted correctly.

"We keep counting. We then go through a process of certification. We go back and check the numbers," says Jay Ashcroft, Missouri Secretary of State . "We keep track of how many ballots are sent to a polling location, how many are cast, how many are spoiled, how many are brought back. We check does that match up with the number of votes?"

He says this process also allows them to correct any issues they may notice within election results.

Ashcroft says it is not uncommon for numbers to entered incorrectly on accident at the local level. But the certification process ensures that someone else is counting those same ballots and corrects those numbers before it is too late.

"Sometimes we will notice a problem on election night with a number, but once we've put it out there, we don't change it until we go through the certification process," says Ashcroft. "Because the last thing we want is for numbers to be changing and people saying, hey, what's going on there?"

The Secretary of State adds that you will likely see a slight difference in numbers between the unofficial results released on election night and those released after the certification process.

The official results come directly from the secretary of states office after they have completed all certifications,. You can find them on their website.

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