BlueCrest delivers Relia-Vote system to Orange County, California to meet Vote-by-Mail demands

DANBURY, Conn., July 18, 2019 --- BlueCrest delivered the latest version of its Relia-Vote system to Orange County, California, to meet the growing demand for automated, end-to-end Vote-by-Mail solutions. One of the six largest counties in the U.S., Orange County requested “Amazon-like” processing for secure inbound and outbound tracking of mail ballots. The solution includes detailed audit trails of mail ballots as they leave the county facility, arrive at USPS, and return to the facility. This Relia-Vote end-to-end system incorporates the full breadth of BlueCrest technology–including production print, inserting, and sortation—to deliver a reliable Vote-by-Mail solution for the 2018 elections, and will support the upcoming 2019 and 2020 elections.

Orange County cited greater efficiency, lower cost production, greater throughput speed, and variable data as key features they wanted to see when upgrading their ballot print and mail solution. By partnering with BlueCrest, Orange County recognized a variety of operational benefits by utilizing an end-to-end system, including outbound and inbound tracking, integrity, data, and security.

“Having all of the elements under one system provides greater efficiencies and will provide enhanced service benefits over the long-term,” said Neal Kelley, Chief Election Official of Orange County Registrar of Voters. “The ability to track mail ballots to the voter, and back from the voter, is a very important element for ensuring transparency in the process. It also provides the voters with an extra level of confidence in the system that their ballot was delivered and counted.”

This high-speed automated solution is also used for sample ballot booklet production to reduce the high cost of outsourcing. Orange County produces over 2,000 different booklet types that are customized to each voter and municipality in up to 5 languages of choice. The Relia-Vote end-to-end system adds full-color printing and high-integrity booklet production and mailing to their operation.

“We are delighted with the new Relia-Vote end-to-end system,” said Kelley, “Having one of the largest Vote-by-Mail counties in the country, we needed a solution that would provide us with the processing capabilities we needed along with the data, tracking, and integrity technology required for our operation—and the BlueCrest Team delivered.”

We are delighted with the new Relia-Vote end-to-end system,” said Kelley, “Having one of the largest Vote-by-Mail counties in the country, we needed a solution that would provide us with the processing capabilities we needed along with the data, tracking, and integrity technology required for our operation — and the BlueCrest Team delivered.

Neal Kelley

Chief Election Official, Orange County Registrar of Voters

The Relia-Vote system is an integrated Print and Mail solution. It includes the IntelliJet 20HD printing system, which ensures very high print quality and readability of ink—particularly important to ensure consistently high-quality ballot barcodes. It also includes the Mailstream Productivity Series inserting system with  Print Plus Response which provides the client with high integrity, high speed inline return envelope printing, and precision processing of mail pieces and content. The file-based processing verifies that the content of every mail piece is accurate, while the Vantage high-speed sortation system, featuring SortEngine 360 software, performs multiple validation checks including voter validation, USPS Intelligent Mail barcode compliance of the outgoing ballots, outbound/inbound tracking of mailpieces, and multiple validation checks as well as sorting to the precinct level and validating voter signature on the returned ballot.

Orange County is also realizing a significant return on investment for the Relia-Vote system, including less manual processing, less human error, and reduced facility space needed to process large volumes of mail ballots. This allows Orange County to streamline and scale its workflows to accommodate large or small elections while standardizing processes that drive efficiencies and savings.