Transparency in the Auditor's Office

From time to time, I hope to let you know how the Auditor's Office team is working to prepare for future elections and provide more transparency to the people of Mason County.

This year is off to a busy and solid start. With certification of the February 2023 special election behind us, we completed another successful election. Your dedicated and experienced elections team worked hard to ensure that every accepted ballot and vote was counted correctly and accurately. Voters approved educational programs and operations replacement levies for the Shelton and Pioneer school districts and rejected the bond measure for the shared Elma school district.

We are now posting more elections data on the county Auditor's website. This data includes copies of the web activity log and election activity log from our Clear Ballot Voting System machine. We are providing ballot batch data along with summary information on rejected ballots reviewed by the Canvassing Board. You will also find a link to the Secretary of State's website for easy access to additional ballot statistics. This is information often sought by interested citizens and independent elections researchers.

Prior to certification of this special election, we audited batches of ballots selected and hand-counted by elections observers. The intent was to compare the hand-counted vote totals to the machine tabulated totals for each batch. This audit was in addition to a Risk Limiting Audit required by law where elections staff validate votes cast on ballots randomly selected by the Secretary of State's Office. We will also be conducting a post-certification audit of some batches of ballot envelopes with election observers to review signature verification methods and results.

To prepare for the 2024 presidential election, we are making important changes. When you next visit the elections office you will notice that we are remodeling the ballot processing room to allow for better efficiency, better security and more election observers. The Voter Registration Counter and Vote Center personnel will move to the second floor of the county offices building and be located next to the licensing and recording team. Beginning with this February special election, we processed ballots on election day. This is a practice we plan to continue going forward. We are also working on a plan to safely collect ballots after 8 p.m. on election night, rather than leaving them in ballot drop boxes overnight. Other changes entail making more of the overall election system accessible to election observers. For example, the company that prints and mails Mason County ballots has agreed to allow an observer on site when printing and mailing our ballots. This is just a start.

Meanwhile, our Legislature is working to pass multiple new laws pertaining to elections. I encourage you to read and familiarize yourself with the various House and Senate bills in progress, and let your legislators know what you think. If you have questions, call me at 360-427- 9670, or send an email to [email protected]. We will provide you with insights and information on the changes you can expect with any new laws that are enacted. It's all part of keeping the people of Mason County informed, prepared, and engaged.