Jefferson County, a region in Colorado, has been at the forefront of embracing innovative voting technology. In 2013, the whole state transitioned to an all-mail voting system, reflecting its commitment to enhancing voter accessibility and participation. With a significant increase of mail-in ballots over the years, Jefferson County faced challenges in managing its election mail processes effectively. For contrast, Jefferson County processed roughly 200,000 absentee ballots in 2010 compared to an estimated 380,000 mail ballots in 2020 —and the trend is expected to continue to rise.BlueCrest had already established itself as a trusted partner for Jefferson County for over a decade, dating back to the original Olympus Sorting system provided in 2010. BlueCrest's commitment to excellence and track record of successful implementation earned high marks when Jefferson County considered solutions for upgrade.
Jefferson County opted to collaborate with BlueCrest to address these challenges. BlueCrest proposed a comprehensive solution leveraging its advanced, high-integrity inbound mail ballot processing technologies, including the Vantage sorter and enhanced Relia-Vote™ 360 software. Key features of the solution included:
"The biggest selling point for me was the reliability and versatility of the Vantage sorter," said Cuong Nguyen, Sr. Technical Support Technician, Jefferson County Elections. “Other vendors offered a sorter that was not as robust and reliable compared to the Vantage. We also really like the customization and how it enabled us to improve multiple processes on a single platform including mail ballot sorting, signature verification, envelope opening and even managing undeliverable mail. Special handling has been a lot simpler; the flexibility of us dealing with challenge codes has been alleviated. We have to follow election rules, so having a reliable sorter solution that gives us a high level of customization provides us the flexibility to adhere to these changing rules. This entire Jefferson County election office relies on the Vantage sorter with Relia-Vote 360 software; it is the anchor of our process, and we needed a product that we could depend on. It’s proved itself.”
The implementation of BlueCrest's Relia-Vote solution resulted in numerous benefits for Jefferson County, including:
“Another critical process improvement has been around undeliverable mail. Depending on the election, 3-5% of mail is undeliverable. Sometimes it reaches as high as 10-12%. With the Relia-Vote 360 NIXIE undeliverable mail software feature, we can reduce this process to a single day. We’ve shaved off tons of time. The turnaround time for the ballots has been reduced in half, meaning we’ve increased our efficiency by double—maybe even more than double.”
Looking ahead, Jefferson County is exploring further enhancements to its election mail processes, including automating the ballot challenge process. The collaborative partnership between Jefferson County and BlueCrest ensures ongoing support and continuous improvement in mail ballot processing efficiency.
