County passes state ballot security, tabulating test
Thumbs-up for "pre-election audit" following SOS inspection.
Updated
Les Bowen (right), an elections program specialist with the Washington Secretary of State's Office, watched as Grant County elections staff conducted a logic-and-accuracy test of ballot tabulation processes Thursday morning at the courthouse in Ephrata. Photos by Randy Bracht
EPHRATA — Grant County’s ballot security and tabulating processes got a thumbs-up Thursday morning by an inspector from the Washington Secretary of State’s Office in advance of the Nov. 3 election.
“They all passed,” said Les Bowen, one of six program specialists from Olympia visiting election offices in all of Washington’s 39 counties to verify procedures aimed at ensuring election integrity.
Washington is a vote-by-mail state, and counties can choose their own processing systems — Grant County is among 18 which utilize Clear Ballot. Hart InterCivic is another popular choice. But, by law, all the systems must be certified by both the state and an independent testing authority. Tests include overall security reviews.
To become certified, county election administrators must attend a two-day training class, obtain another 40 hours of work-related education, pass an exam about election laws and procedures, then work in elections for two years to gain relevant experience, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
During his visit to the Grant County Courthouse, Bowen confirmed policies and procedures with election staff, obtained a copy of the local voters pamphlet, and oversaw a trial run of the electronic ballot scanning and tabulating system.
The formal name is “pre-election audit: logic & accuracy test,” which ensures machines are correctly set up and accurately counting votes.
The equipment itself is stored in a secured room within the elections department. The ballot scanner and a computer display monitor are kept in locked cabinets with numerical tags. Two elections officials must both sign before the security tags are removed to access the equipment. The system is an independent “air-gapped network,” meaning it cannot connect to the internet or any wireless communication.
In the audit test, a stack of pre-marked ballots with known outcomes was run through the scanner, then compared to the documents’ original matrix.
This morning’s results all aligned.
Pre-marked sample ballots (above) were fed through an electronic scanner/tabulator (below), with results compared to the original test matrix. The county's sample audit was accurate.
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Both the audit testing and upcoming actual ballot counts are open to the public for observation. Ballot processing is also livestreamed and can be viewed on the county website, along with sample ballots, election resolutions, and dropbox locations.
Oct. 16 marks the start of an 18-day statewide voting period that continues to Nov. 3. Information on voter eligibility, registration, forms, dates and deadlines, and other information is also available on the state website.
Voters can return their ballots in person to the elections department at the courthouse, by mail, or place them in secured dropboxes located around the county. To be counted, all ballots must be returned or postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Night. Officials advise mailing ballots several days in advance to ensure they are timely postmarked.
When ballots arrive at election offices, a barcode on the outer envelope is scanned and entered into VoteWA, Washington’s statewide registration database. This updates each voter’s record in the database and lists the ballot as “received.”
“This system prevents anyone from casting more than one ballot,” says the Secretary of State’s Office.
After signatures are verified, each ballot is updated to “accepted” and separated from its signature envelope. The now-anonymous ballots are grouped for scanning and sealed in secure containers throughout the election. A minimum of two elections staff are present whenever a ballot is handled.
Immediately after Election Day, local officials hand-count randomly selected precincts or ballot batches and compare those numbers to voting system totals. Officials also conduct a “risk-limiting audit” that compares random individual ballots to the voting machine record to ensure reported results are correct. In close elections, more ballots are checked.
A final report summarizes how many ballots were received, how many were counted, and how many were “challenged” by the county canvassing board, which must include the county auditor, prosecutor, and chair of the board of commissioners.
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County passes state ballot security, tabulating test
Thumbs-up for "pre-election audit" following SOS inspection.
EPHRATA — Grant County’s ballot security and tabulating processes got a thumbs-up Thursday morning by an inspector from the Washington Secretary of State’s Office in advance of the Nov. 3 election.
“They all passed,” said Les Bowen, one of six program specialists from Olympia visiting election offices in all of Washington’s 39 counties to verify procedures aimed at ensuring election integrity.
Washington is a vote-by-mail state, and counties can choose their own processing systems — Grant County is among 18 which utilize Clear Ballot. Hart InterCivic is another popular choice. But, by law, all the systems must be certified by both the state and an independent testing authority. Tests include overall security reviews.
To become certified, county election administrators must attend a two-day training class, obtain another 40 hours of work-related education, pass an exam about election laws and procedures, then work in elections for two years to gain relevant experience, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
During his visit to the Grant County Courthouse, Bowen confirmed policies and procedures with election staff, obtained a copy of the local voters pamphlet, and oversaw a trial run of the electronic ballot scanning and tabulating system.
The formal name is “pre-election audit: logic & accuracy test,” which ensures machines are correctly set up and accurately counting votes.
The equipment itself is stored in a secured room within the elections department. The ballot scanner and a computer display monitor are kept in locked cabinets with numerical tags. Two elections officials must both sign before the security tags are removed to access the equipment. The system is an independent “air-gapped network,” meaning it cannot connect to the internet or any wireless communication.
In the audit test, a stack of pre-marked ballots with known outcomes was run through the scanner, then compared to the documents’ original matrix.
This morning’s results all aligned.
Both the audit testing and upcoming actual ballot counts are open to the public for observation. Ballot processing is also livestreamed and can be viewed on the county website, along with sample ballots, election resolutions, and dropbox locations.
Oct. 16 marks the start of an 18-day statewide voting period that continues to Nov. 3. Information on voter eligibility, registration, forms, dates and deadlines, and other information is also available on the state website.
Voters can return their ballots in person to the elections department at the courthouse, by mail, or place them in secured dropboxes located around the county. To be counted, all ballots must be returned or postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Night. Officials advise mailing ballots several days in advance to ensure they are timely postmarked.
When ballots arrive at election offices, a barcode on the outer envelope is scanned and entered into VoteWA, Washington’s statewide registration database. This updates each voter’s record in the database and lists the ballot as “received.”
“This system prevents anyone from casting more than one ballot,” says the Secretary of State’s Office.
After signatures are verified, each ballot is updated to “accepted” and separated from its signature envelope. The now-anonymous ballots are grouped for scanning and sealed in secure containers throughout the election. A minimum of two elections staff are present whenever a ballot is handled.
Immediately after Election Day, local officials hand-count randomly selected precincts or ballot batches and compare those numbers to voting system totals. Officials also conduct a “risk-limiting audit” that compares random individual ballots to the voting machine record to ensure reported results are correct. In close elections, more ballots are checked.
A final report summarizes how many ballots were received, how many were counted, and how many were “challenged” by the county canvassing board, which must include the county auditor, prosecutor, and chair of the board of commissioners.