COMMENTARY JULY 29: Your ballot and voter pamphlet have arrived in the mail. The Washington primary is on Tuesday, August 6. The time has come to fill out your ballot and get it in the mail or a drop box.
Yet do you have concerns about the election process? Is it secure? What about its integrity? Concerns for ballot transparency have gone rapid. Why not find out for yourself?
I recently visited the brand-new Snohomish County Elections Office. The office moved into their new facility earlier this month. Talk about transparency!
There are windows everywhere so you can see everything that is going on. There are cameras watching with monitors so you can see what is happening firsthand. There is no false ceiling, so you can see all the vents and where the cables lead to, to support the cameras and monitors.
There are posters that explain all the steps as your ballot arrives and is processed. Those steps include the envelope arrival, scanning the envelopes, signature verification, and the ballots being prepared for and going through tabulation.
Election office staff is also there to address any and all questions. During my tour, several voters had concerns about the process, and all their questions were answered to their satisfaction. And there were some tough questions!
Snohomish County elections office staff want you to visit their new facility at the Snohomish County Administration Building in downtown Everett to see and learn how democracy works in action. In an era when civics is not as taught in schools as much as it once was, visiting your elections office offers a great civics lesson.
In fact, any county election office in the North Sound or even across the state, wants their voters to visit and see how their ballots are processed.
Washington started mail-in voting in 2005. The process has been fine-tuned ever since to enhance its security and integrity. For instance, your ballot envelope has a bar code that is yours and yours alone to avoid any duplication. In addition at the new facility, you can watch the signature verification process in person as if you were sitting in the chair next to the Washington State Patrol-trained staff member.
If you miss the ‘vote at the polls’ era, you can still visit the elections office and vote in person on Election Day. The remodeled space has plenty of room.
In Snohomish County, over 500,000 ballots were mailed. If you want your vote to be counted on Election Day, get your ballot in the mail or drop box early so it will get processed in time by 8 p.m. on Election Night, August 6. Otherwise, it will get processed and counted later in that week.
There are many important local contests on your ballot. Vote early so your vote will be among those on Election Night. I have!
