In the wake of controversy over the disputed results of the race for governor four years ago that hinged largely on a recount of votes in King County, tighter ballot security and a centralized elections department were urged after local, state and national reviews of the county’s election processes.
Those recommendations were among 358 that came after 2004 from the King County Independent Task Force, the Citizens Election Oversight Committee, the Washington secretary of state, who is the the top elections official statewide, and The Election Center, a national non-profit organization that audited the county elections department.
“Consolidating election functions in one location is one of the most important investments the county has made to improve accuracy in elections,” said Ellen Hansen, chairwoman of the Citizens Election Oversight Committee, whose members were appointed by the County Council. She said the new elections building in Renton will “make the voting process more transparent to the public” and extend efforts “to restore confidence in the election process.” The latter have included:
• Managing voter rolls with one statewide voter registration database to correct duplicate registrations and remove the names of dead voters.
• New standards for guarding against discrepancies in the number of mail-in ballots that are received and counted.
• Allowing voters to confirm their registrations and find their polling places via the Internet.
The work isn’t done. Officials noted there will be a series of audits on central absentee tabulation equipment, as well as random audits of polling-site equipment in each election to verify accuracy and detect if anyone has tampered with the equipment. And oversight of elections will continue by the citizens’ committee, the political parties and two watchdog groups – the Section 203 Minority Language Coalition and the Disability Assistance Commission – for voters who are ethnic minorities or disabled.
Sherril Huff, the county’s elections director, said the combined changes “should give citizens the assurance their votes are accounted for and secure at all times.”
