Somali Community Services of Seattle hosted the first of three workshops on September 6 to share information about voting in King County with members of the East African communities.

The event began with a celebration of Somali food and dances from the center’s youth group. There was a presentation about the history of voting rights in America, the need for community engagement in the electoral process, and a look forward to some of the candidates and measures on the upcoming ballot.

All the information was interpreted in Amharic, Oromo, Somali, and Tigrinya. Guest speakers included King County Election’s Director Julie Wise and Cherry Cayabyab, President of the Seattle/King County NAACP Gerald Hankerson, and numerous community members who all encouraged the attendees to spread the word with others about the importance of voting.

Small group discussions were held to give participants an opportunity to reflect on what they had just learned and strategize about how to get more people involved leading up to the November 8 General Election. By the end of the night, more than 20 people at the event had registered to vote!

The group’s next workshop will take place on October 4 from 5:30-7:30 pm at Yesler Community Center and people will have the opportunity to learn specifics about the issues they will see on the November ballot.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the security of our nation’s election systems – from the cyber attacks on Arizona and Illinois – to political rhetoric about election rigging – to the Department of Homeland Security considering a “critical infrastructure” designation for election systems.

So, you might be wondering, how safe are King County’s election systems? And the answer is, pretty darn safe. There are a couple of reasons for this:

• We maintain our own voter registration system. Yes, it talks to the state’s, but they are completely independent from each other. Every day we are looking at what’s coming in (additions, deletions or changes to voter registration records) and would immediately notice any voter registration activity that is out-of-the-ordinary. We also continuously maintain a back-up so that if we do spot something unusual, we are able to fix the problem without disruption.

• The voter registration database has absolutely nothing to do with counting ballots. Our tabulation system is on a closed network that is not connected to the outside world. To breach it, one would have to be inside the building and we have all sorts of security protocols – from 24-hour live-streamed surveillance to biometric access – that keep our equipment secure.

So, while we need to stay vigilant, we’ve got great processes and systems in place. So you can vote with confidence!

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.

The numbers are in and drop box usage was off-the-charts for the August 2 Primary! As you may remember, we added a bunch of new drop boxes for this election, with 14 more coming for November.

Some of the more noteworthy statistics include:

• Nearly 36% of ballots were returned via drop-box. This is more than any election in recent history. Previously the highest percentage of ballots returned via drop-box was the 2015 General Election with 26.3%.

• More than 100,000 ballots were returned to drop boxes just on Election Day. That’s nearly 20,000 more than we’ve ever had returned in a single day.

• The new Lake City Library box – which was officially unveiled by Councilmember Rod Dembowski, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Election’s Director Julie Wise – saw more than 6,500 ballots returned – more than several other permanent locations that have been available for years.

And the even better news is that there are more on the way! For the General Election this November 8, there will be 43 ballot drop-off locations across the county.

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.