Fairfax County assures voters that election security measures are in place
With Election Day just three weeks from today – and early voting already underway – Fairfax County wants the public to know that strict security measures are in place to protect ballots and voting machines.
Members of the U.S. Senate and House are on the Nov. 3 ballot, along with three constitutional amendments and two Fairfax County bond issues. Early voting at the Mason District Government Center and Thomas Jefferson Library starts Oct. 22.
Secure ballots
Ballot drop boxes are physically secured with padlocks, and ballots are retrieved from drop boxes multiple times a day, the Fairfax County Government reports. The 24/7 drop box at the Fairfax County Government Center is under video surveillance.Â
Two election officials transport ballots collected from early voting and Election Day drop boxes in sealed containers to the Office of Elections.
Once there, each transfer step is documented, ensuring that every absentee ballot is accounted for and properly stored.
Voting machines
Fairfax County uses DS300 and DS950 ballot scanners that are certified at both state and federal levels to meet required standards for accuracy and security. Before each election, these machines undergo rigorous logic and accuracy testing to verify their ability to read and tabulate ballots correctly, the county states.
Election officials check hardware and software to ensure proper functioning and check that security measures are working to prevent unauthorized access. Representatives from political parties are invited to observe these tests to ensure transparency.Â
A key security feature of these voting machines is that they do not have modems or wireless capabilities, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. This means the machines cannot be hacked or tampered with remotely.
Related story: Three constitutional amendments will be on the Nov. 3 ballot
The machines’ digital scanners capture an image of the front and back of each ballot while tallying the votes.
After voting ends, results and ballot images are encrypted and securely stored on proprietary USB drives that are transported to election headquarters by two election officers using chain of custody protocols. Voted ballots are sealed in boxes, labeled for tracking, and transported to secure storage at the courthouse.
Virginia’s statewide voter database tracks every voter who casts a ballot. Once a ballot is submitted – whether in person, by mail, or through early voting – it is recorded in the database and pollbook. That prevents the counting of additional ballots under the same voter’s name.
Counting ballots
Absentee ballots and votes cast on Election Day are reported after the polls close. Results are not final until all absentee and provisional ballot submissions are in.
Virginia law allows absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by noon on the Friday after to be counted. Provisional ballots are processed in the days following the election, and accepted ballots are tallied by machine and added to the vote totals.
With more than 800,000 registered voters in Fairfax County, the largest jurisdiction in Virginia, accurate tabulation takes time.
Election Night results are preliminary until all absentee and provisional ballots are counted. Once tallied, the Electoral Board can certify the final counts, which must be submitted to the Virginia Board of Elections by the second Friday after the election.
The post-election canvass is a critical step in ensuring the accuracy and integrity of election results. After Election Day, a canvass reconciles the total ballots cast with the number of voters, and confirms that the data from voting machines matches printed reports. All valid ballots are included in the final count, and any discrepancies are addressed before certification.Â
The Office of Elections also conducts periodic risk-limiting audits as directed by the State Board of Elections, comparing a random sample of paper ballots with voting machine results for accuracy. Post-election audits are conducted with election officials, neutral observers, and party representatives present.Â
Our local elections team do an outstanding job of checking their personal politics at the door. Once again, Fairfax County sets the standard to which other jurisdictions aspire.
I disagree with James. Fairfax County is always the last precinct to report vote tally on election day and it is last by a significant margin. The delay in reporting adds to suspicion of shenanigans.
Correct me if I am wrong but Fairfax County is not a precinct, there are many precincts within the county so your statement does not make sense.
For fun, let’s just say it is always last to report on election day. According to 2026 numbers, Fairfax County has 1,147,837 residents, the next closest in the state is Prince William with 488,880. Obviously not everyone is eligible to vote (or even votes for that matter) but would it be hard to believe that they take the longest because they have 2.5x more residents than the 2nd biggest county in the state?
Mark, you love to make statements like this and never, ever offer any documented proof to back it up so I ask you, what can you share that is suspicious that has merit? I’ll eagerly wait for your reply
It’s called volume. 2300 people in Highland county is easier to count than 1.2M in Fairfax County. That’s like saying it’s suspicious that it takes you longer to count the number of cheerios in a box than how many pepperonis are on a pizza.
Fairfax is Virginia’s largest county by population which means that they have to wait to close precincts until after every last voter who was in line by close time is able to vote. This is normal, I’ve seen it like that when I live elsewhere where my county was the larger that others (I’ve lived in Arlington, VA and parts of MD). The electronic vote is near real time. The voters who drop off absentee ballots, those then have to be validated and processed (depending on locality – they may be done at a precinct or a central election office). This adds to the delay (obviously additionally, the larger the drop off ballots, the more delay). Then the regulations at the central processing – determine the handling of the mailed in ballots – whether they start being checked and tallied at the close or as they’re received. Additionally, the postal service in most districts does a single mass final dump of the days received mailed ballots to the electoral processing facility. And political parties have sued states really often in recent years on the mailed in ballots (whether they are valid if they were received by postmark date, or they have to be in the election offices hands on election day, or how many days post, can they be counted). And oh by the way, provisional ballots have to checked against registered voter rolls and other state eligibility requirements before they are added to the the official tally. And with a larger population, you’ll have more provisional ballots.
I’d guess that Fairfax does a pretty solid job in comparison to similar large population counties around the country.
Fairfax County’s population is 1.1 million. The next closest is Prince William, which is less than half of that. To think there is ‘shenanigans’ going on is truly grasping at straws.
I disagree with Mark. First of all, Fairfax County is not one precinct, it’s 264 precincts. And as long as there are representatives from both parties present at all precincts, how can there be shenanigans? As this article describes, Fairfax has a lot of well-established safeguards in place for voting procedures. But if you want to go to the source, go here: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/elections/faq
We all know this election doesn’t matter and he’s just going to illegally seize power any way he can even if that means violence