Are you an elections nerd? A civic enthusiast? Just interested in earning some extra cash for the Holidays? King County Elections will be hiring more than 500 temporary staff to help with this year’s Presidential Election. Some of the things our temporary staff help out with include:

• Providing customer service to voters and answering questions about things like voter registration, ballot tracking and election deadlines;
• Reviewing ballots, including duplicating damaged or write-in ballots;
• Opening, separating and inspecting envelopes and ballots;
• Analyzing and determining whether to accept or challenge a voter’s signature on the return envelope.

Jobs can last anywhere from 4-5 weeks to just a couple of days, so there’s something for everyone. For more information, check out the Temporary Election Worker posting.

Fun facts you may not know about King County Elections:

• Elections has conducted 30 straight elections with no errors (discrepancies). This means we completely accounted for all ballots received and processed by the department for the past 30 elections!

• Your vote is private. After your signature is verified, the connection between your name and your ballot is severed. Learn more about how your ballot is handled.

• In every election, the department hires temporary workers to help open and process ballots. For the November 2016 General Election we will hire hundreds of temporary workers.

Making it easier to vote is a priority here at King County Elections. So, we are happy to announce that you can now get your voting materials in Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish or Vietnamese! Just complete the online form if you are already registered to vote. If you still need to register you can do that on our Elections website or mail in the form available on the Washington Secretary of State website to get registered and receive your voting materials in your preferred language.

Here in King County we’ve had a number of close elections in recent years – a Seattle City Council race decided by just 39 votes, a Des Moines City Council race won by 31. With tight races you might be wondering: what triggers an automatic recount?

First, it’s important to know that there are two different types of recounts:

1. Machine recounts – in which all ballots for that race are re-scanned and re-tabulated electronically; and,
2. Manual recounts – in which all ballots for that race are counted by hand.

There are different thresholds for machine and manual recounts, as well as different thresholds for the type of race.

Mandatory Machine Recount

For all races and statewide measures a recount is triggered if the gap is fewer than 2,000 votes and also less than .5% (.005) of the total votes cast for both candidates.

Mandatory Manual Recount

• For statewide races and measures a recount is triggered if the gap is fewer than 1,000 votes and also less than .25% (.0025) of the total votes cast for both candidates.

• For other races a recount is triggered if the gap is fewer than 150 votes and also less than .25% (.0025) of the total votes cast for both candidates

There are no mandatory recounts for state advisory votes or local measures.

Requested Recount

• An application for a requested recount must be filed within two business days after the County Canvassing Board or Secretary of State has declared the official results of the primary or election for which the recount is requested. The application must specify the race or state measure to be recounted.

Totally simple and straightforward, right? If not, don’t worry – King County Elections has you covered. You can learn more about recounts on our Elections website, or here at the Secretary of State’s website.

Admittedly, I may not be entirely impartial on this matter, as it’s both my professional and personal mission to count your vote. However – and call me Pollyanna-ish if you like – I really believe your vote matters. Let me give you a few reasons why.

• We actually count every single ballot. Those in election administration are going to go, “um, obviously, Julie.” However, I have spoken with many people who believe that once a race has been statistically decided, once we have enough ballots in, whatever that we stop counting. We don’t. Even if you forget to sign your ballot and respond to our request to sign the ballot say, a week and a half after Election Day, we STILL count your ballot.
• Some races are really, really close. Some races, mind you not many Presidential races, but a number of others, are decided by a very close margin. Just last year we had a Seattle City Council race decided by just 39 votes. Two years prior, in 2013, we had a Des Moines City Council race won by 31 votes. And in 2011 the race for an Enumclaw School District Director was decided by just 11 votes.
• We’re lucky that we have the right to vote. There are many countries across the world – many that even send delegates to visit and learn from King County Elections – where citizens still don’t have the right to participate in decisions about their communities. We are lucky to live in a society where democracy is institutionalized and we shouldn’t take it for granted.
• Your vote is your voice. Voting is an important, meaningful way to support things you care about – whether it’s your local schools, a new tax measure, or who represents you in Olympia or Washington DC. If nothing else here compels you – at least if you vote, you have a more justifiable right to complain.

These are just a few reasons. There are many more. Your voice matters but only if you use it.  My job is to make it as convenient and easy as possible for you to vote. Your job is to do it.

~ Julie Wise, Elections Director

Did you know that we verify every signature on every 
ballot returned? For this Primary Election, we’ve mailed 1,227,550 ballots and are expecting our first big day of returns to bring in approximately 20,000 ballots!  So, in preparation for this large volume, on Thursday, July 14 approximately 35 additional temporary staff were trained by the Washington State Patrol to handle signature verification. This is a class Elections staff takes
every year.

Ballot boxes are now open for the August 2 Primary Election and Elections Director Julie Wise marked the occasion this week with ribbon cuttings at new ballot drop boxes at both Fairwood Library in Renton and Lake City Library. Wise was joined at Lake City Library by Executive Dow Constantine, Councilmember Rod Dembowski, State Rep. Gerry Pollet, State Sen. David Frockt, Amanda Clark, President of League of Women Voters Seattle King County, Laura Flores Cantrell, Co-chair of the Seattle Immigrant Voting Task Force, Mark Mendez, North District Council Co-Chair, along and other local elected officials.

A total of 29 drop boxes will be available for this Primary Election followed by 14 more boxes for the November General Election. A total of 43 ballot drop boxes will increase access and convenience for voters across King County.

For a complete list of boxes visit our website. Boxes are open 24 hours a day until August 2 at 8 p.m.

Lake City Library
Pictured left to right: Julie Wise, Elections Director; Mark Mendez, North District Council Co-Chair; Laura Flores Cantrell, Co-chair of the Seattle Immigrant Voting Task Force; Dow Constantine, King County Executive; Rod Dembowski, County Councilmember; Gerry Pollet, State Rep

Fairwood Library
Pictured left to right: Reagan Dunn, County Councilmember; Julie Wise, Elections Director; and Gary Wasdin, Director of the King County Library System.

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Ever wondered what a Canvassing Board is? If you haven’t heard the term before it’s unique to the elections process. A Canvassing Board is a public entity that conducts a formal assessment (“canvass”) of an election. The assessment includes reviewing
vote totals, determining the validity of challenged ballots, certifying the vote and administering a recount. Every county in Washington State must have a county canvassing board.

All King County Canvassing Board meetings are public and typically take place at the King County Elections headquarters located in Renton. The board meets to
officially certify each election.

By Washington state law, the county auditor serves as the county Canvassing Board chair. Other members include:

• Auditor/Director of Elections: Julie Wise
• Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: Kevin Wright
• King County Council Representative: Anne Noris

We recently mailed out 4,300 letters to voters asking them to update their signature. We verify every signature before a ballot is counted during an election. Signatures can change over time for a variety of reasons and keeping an up-to-date one on file is important for efficient and timely processing. Some voters have several signatures on file with us.

State law requires that we compare the signature on a ballot envelope with the signature that we have on file (typically from the Department of Licensing) before we can count your ballot during an election. If the signatures match, we can count your ballot. If the signatures do not match or a signature is missing, we will contact you by mail, email, and/or phone letting you know how to take care of the issue.

Our staff is trained by the Washington State Patrol on signature verification to assure we are properly counting each ballot.

We are committed to making every single vote count! If you receive a letter please respond so we can update your signature and keep the voting processing running smoothly.