The life of a ballot

Few multiple choice tests are as consequential as an election; few bubble sheets as vital as a ballot.

Pressed with deciding who will serve in public office as well as which initiatives and local bond measures will be adopted, it can be easy for voters to overlook the careful work that goes into creating, distributing and accurately counting ballots.

It's a complex and largely regimented process that involves highly trained non-partisan election workers from every county. Their work begins long before campaign ads overtake the airwaves or lawns become overrun with candidate signs and continues well past the victory and concession speeches from politicians.

"Working for your county's election department is a 52-week-a-year job," Mishellena Stanley, elections supervisor for Whitman County, said. "Aside from the work undertaken before elections - finalizing ballot language, producing voter information pamphlets, as well as distributing, collecting and tabulating ballots - we're constantly updating our voter records, answering people questions and participating in a lot of state-required training."

While election administration may seem like a hidden function, it has long engaged the participation of public observers as well as representatives from both major political parties at every significant stage.

It all starts with the ballot.

Ballot creation

The first step in the election process in Washington is for local jurisdictions to submit resolutions they want voters to consider and for candidates to run for office. Resolution language is reviewed by a jurisdiction's or the county's attorney, with any necessary changes being sent to jurisdictions for final approval.

Once resolutions and candidates are set, a test ballot is produced, sent out to local jurisdictions for approval, and then uploaded to a county's electronic system. Logic and accuracy tests are conducted in the presence of political party representatives, the county attorney and officials from the Secretary of State's Office. Approved test ballots are then uploaded to the state's website to again ensure the accuracy of information that'll appear on the printed form.

From there, counties across the state are required under state law to produce informational voter pamphlets for the upcoming election. Counties solicit statements from candidates as well as favorable and opposing statements on local resolutions. These statements are vetted by the county auditor before being verified and sent off to the printer.

In this general election year, ballots for military and overseas citizens were sent out by Sept. 21. In Washington, the 18-dayvoting period for this election begins Oct. 18. This year, Election Day is Nov. 5.

Counting and certifying

In Washington, ballots can be counted as they come into local elections offices, which leads to results being certified earlier than states that prevent ballot counting until Election Day.

Ballots can be dropped off in-personat elections offices, at ballot drop boxes, or returned via mail. One tip offered by Whitman County Auditor Sandy Jamison is to ensure voters have their ballots in the mail prior to pick-upon Election Day. Ballots that are postmarked after Election Day are not considered valid unless successfully appealed.

Once 8 p.m. Nov. 5 rolls around, elections workers across the state head out in groups of two to collect ballots. Importantly, anyone in line to drop off a ballot before 8 p.m. will have their sealed ballot envelope accepted even if they aren't able to physically drop the it into the drop box until after polls officially close due to the length of the line. That isn't the case for someone who arrived after the 8 p.m. deadline. Ballots from voters who dropped off after the deadline are stored in special envelopes for consideration by a municipality's canvassing board.

There are always at least two people present when ballots are being collected, transported, and counted.

As a matter of security, there are always at least two people present when ballots are being collected, transported, and counted. During the counting process, ballots are removed from envelopes and security sleeves, signatures are verified and the physical state of the ballots is assessed to ensure the machine can read it properly.

Any ballots that lack signatures, have signatures that don't match samples, or are too damaged to be counted by the tabulator, are sent to the canvassers office, which contacts voters in an effort to ensure their ballots are counted.

Once ballots are counted by the tabulator, which is a standalone machine not connected to the internet, elections workers export results to a USB stick provided by the county's third-party elections vendor and inserted into a standalone desktop only connected to the county's system. During this process, randomized audits of ballot batches are conducted to ensure physical ballots match results in the computer system.

With ballots entered into a county's system, results are then submitted to the Secretary of State for final certification. Follow up efforts to contact voters of challenged ballots falls to Canvassing Boards.

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