For the people working in elections offices, Nov. 4 is a very busy day.

Though ballots are mailed out 45 days before the election for military and overseas voters, and on Oct. 14 for everyone else, Coupeville Elections Supervisor Michele Reagan said that “a large percentage” of voters wait until the last day to turn their ballots in.

“We check every single signature on every single ballot that comes back in,” Reagan said. “So we’ve actually being doing that, scanning the ballots into the system, getting them ready to go into the tally, for the last couple of weeks now.

“Today, we’re processing them in bigger numbers than we normally get in the day’s mail.”

For Reagan, one of the most challenging parts can actually be making sure every vote is accounted for. The office has a tracking system to help them keep track of the votes, so they’ll know if they missed one. Reagan said it can be difficult to go back through to find where the mistake was made.

“But what we’re doing is extremely important, so rising to that challenge is important.

“We make sure that the voters’ voices are heard,” she said. “And at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing.”

“To see how it all meshes out at the end and who wins,” said election coordinator M’Lissa Christopherson, “is really the cherry on top at the end.”