On Nov. 5, voters will cast their ballots for the next president of the United States. They will choose between Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and a handful of third-party candidates.
Some will do so earlier through early voting or mail-in ballots, available in some states.
In a year ripe with election misinformation and distrust in the voting process, it is helpful to understand what happens to your ballot after you cast your vote.
What happens to my ballot after I vote in person?
In-person, hand-marked ballots are either run through a scanner at a polling place, collected to be scanned at a central location, or manually counted.
A small percentage of voters cast their votes using a direct-recording electronic voting machine, which electronically stores the voters’ selections.
Either way, the paper ballots or paper records of electronic votes are collected into secure boxes or envelopes after they have been cast. Any electronic results stored on memory devices or physical results tapes are securely transported to a central election center.
What happens to my mail-in or absentee ballot?
After ballots are returned by mail or dropped off at a designated location, they must first be processed by an election worker before the vote can be counted.
The procedure varies by state, but generally involves confirming the identity and authenticity of the voter, verifying the voter’s information to confirm they are registered and eligible to vote, and confirming the signature on the ballot matches a signature on file, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. This information is written or printed on an outer envelope.
After confirming the information, the envelope is opened and separated from the ballot to preserve the secrecy of the voter’s ballot. The whole processing procedure takes place at a central counting facility or a polling place.
The ballots are then counted, either by hand or by machine scanners. The timeline of when election officials are allowed to start counting mail ballots varies by state.
Counting all the ballots
After votes have been cast, election officials compile vote counts from all sources into a single final vote total for the area. This process is called an election canvass. Often, electronic scanners will read in-person and by-mail paper votes to record totals.
Officials also inspect returns to ensure that the number of votes reported is consistent with the number of voters who checked in at a polling place or other data points.
In some cases, ballots may be counted again during a recount or reviewed during an audit. There are also processes around provisional ballots and “cures,” or when voters can fix certain ballot errors like a missing signature.
What happens to my ballot after the results are final?
Even after results have been certified and there are no more recounts or audits, your ballot isn’t thrown away.
Instead, as required by federal law, ballots remain in a secure area for 22 months. In some places, they will stay there for even longer. After that, election officials may destroy the ballots. However, electronic records are maintained.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What happens after I cast my ballot? The journey of your vote
