Sierra County Grand Jury Commends Election Ballot Counting Process
Two jurors observed ballot processing during the November 2025 special election.
Sierra County processes ballots in the Supervisors’ Chambers at the Downieville Courthouse.
SIERRA COUNTY — The 2025-2026 Sierra County Grand Jury delivered a positive assessment of local election practices. Two grand jurors directly observed staff as the county conducted a statewide all-mail special election. The panel released the report on January 15, 2026, and the document was made public on March 18.
The special election occurred on November 4, 2025. Ballots were mailed to registered voters on October 6, 2025, and voters could return ballots by mail, at the county clerk’s office, or in a Loyalton drop box on election day.
The grand jurors visited the elections office on October 30, 2025, and on election day. Observers watched signature verification, secure storage, logic and accuracy testing, and ballot scanning. Jurors participated in the logic and accuracy test by hand-counting sample ballots and comparing results to the scanner output.
The report lists six findings:
The Election Office staff takes great care and professionalism in handling and opening ballot envelopes.
Election Office staff demonstrated a high level of knowledge about ballot counting and the election process.
The Election Office performs ballot counting accurately, with multiple redundancies to ensure each ballot is counted exactly once.
The ballots are stored in a locked safe in the County offices when they are not being processed by Election Office Staff.
The Elections Office invites and provides an opportunity for any member of the public to view the sorting and processing of ballots in the Sierra County offices in Downieville.
A commendation is warranted for the staff of the Sierra County Elections Office for their tireless and diligent work in ensuring the efficient, friendly, and public implementation of the State of California-mandated election process in this election.
The grand jury issued one recommendation: the head of the elections office should pursue the use of teleconferencing within state guidelines and budget limits. A system could allow remote viewing of ballot sorting and processing in the Downieville Board of Supervisors’ room, thereby improving voter confidence.
The full report is available on the Sierra County website. John Mitchell served as foreperson for the 2025-2026 Sierra County Grand Jury.