Case Study: Escambia County achieves fast mail-in ballot processing with OPEX Model 72 ballot extraction

Escambia County opens 61K mail-in ballots with OPEX in 2020

Escambia County faced a significant challenge in processing a massive, unexpected surge in mail-in ballots for the 2020 General Election, fueled by the pandemic. With a growing number of eligible voters and concerns about recruiting enough election workers for manual processing, their existing method was insufficient. They turned to OPEX Corporation and its Model 72 ballot extractor to automate the mail opening and extraction process.

The solution from OPEX involved implementing the automated Model 72 system, which required only one operator and achieved extraction rates of up to 1,200 ballots per hour. This allowed the county to efficiently process over 61,000 mail-in ballots and redirect its staff to other critical tasks. As a result, Escambia County successfully managed the doubled volume of ballots with the same number of workers and had all votes counted by election day.

Escambia County