Voting in Pierce County

I dropped my ballot off at the election center last Monday, a week ahead of the election.  In the past, I would often wait until the last minute so that I could see if there was any more information coming out about any of the candidates or issues.  This time, I knew I wouldn’t be changing my mind.

I was already on my way to the election center to observe the counting of the ballots.  Pierce County is all mail-in paper ballots.  It is really good to observe the process.  I think everyone should sign up to do this at least once.  Where does your vote go?  How do you know it is counted?  The rub is that Pierce County only recognizes two political parties, so you have to say you are a Republican or a Democrat.  Independents need not apply.

This is what you will see if you are an election observer.

Ballots are brought in, either by mail for from the drop boxes, always by teams of two.   The ballots are placed in flat boxes and the flaps are removed, revealing the signature of the voter.  They are placed in the sorting machine that takes a picture of the envelope and signature.   The signatures go into a computer program to be recorded in the voter registration system.  This is how they know that my mother-in-law has voted in every election in the past 50 years.  They even have her name on a plaque in the election center.

The computerized signatures go to about a dozen signature verifiers, who sit at a computer and compare the signature on the envelope with the signature on file.   Signatures that do not match are flagged and receive a second review by a different verifier.   If a ballot is unsigned, the signature does not match, the wrong signer, a stamped signature, no signature on file or signed by Power of Attorney, then a letter is sent to that voter.  If there is no response, then an automated phone call is sent.  The voter must respond by the day prior to the certification, which is 21 days after Election Day.  This is one of the reasons to vote early. 

The sorter also separates the ballots into legislative districts.  (Quick quiz!  Does everyone know which Legislative district they are in?  Do you know your precinct number?  Who is your PCO?)  The unchallenged ballots are then sent in batches to human hands to be opened and separated from the secrecy envelope.   This step is important, since they don’t want anyone to see how a particular person voted.  Once they are separated, the person then opens the secrecy envelope and removes the ballot.  The stack of oath envelopes is zip tied together and archived.  Even the secrecy envelopes, with no distinguishing features, are zipped together and archived.  The length of time they are archived depends on if it is a Federal election.  Materials in Federal elections are archived for 22 months.  They save every scrap of evidence.

Once the ballots are in a nice pile, they are visually scanned by a human to see if there is anything that would not be read by the tabulating machine.   These are done in small batches of about 200, so that they can be easily retrieved if needed.  Any ballots with corrections, torn bits, Post-it notes, stray marks or write in candidates are sent to a reviewer to double check.  If there is something the machines can’t read, those ballots will be remade.  This is to insure voter intent.  For example, if a person circled a name rather than connecting the arrow, a new ballot would be made with the arrow drawn in at that spot.  This remake process is always done with two people in the room where the observers can watch.  A second team of two double checks the ballots to make sure they match.  About 7% of ballots need to be remade.  Any ballots that cannot be easily determined as to voter intent are sent to the canvassing board. 

Sometimes, the tabulating machine will spit out a ballot it is unable to read.  After trying once or twice more, that ballot is sent back to be remade.   They double check to make sure the number of ballots tabulated matches the number of ballots counted by humans.  Counted ballots are sealed and placed in a locked room. 

The Canvassing Board meets 21 days after the general election and consists of the County Auditor, the Prosecuting Attorney and the chair of the County Council.  They rule on questioned ballots and then certify the election.  This meeting is open to the public. 

This is what I know.  Well, I know some other stuff, but I signed a secrecy oath.