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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
November 12, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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November 12, 2020
 
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Page A-12 - Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020 Elections: Mason County staff ran 5 electi0ns in 2020 continued from A-1 County voters,” McGuire wrote. “They have run five elections this year, moved their offices from the sec- ond to first floor of our building and done more public outreach and greater transparency than we have ever had here, all during a global pandemic. They all de— serve along vacation.” McGuire wrote that his office was well-prepared for uncertainty and was ready to change its plans and adjust to circumstances as needed. He credited two grants as being critical to the elec- tion’s overall success. The first came under the CARES Act and the sec- ond as a gift from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, and helped pay for re- modeling of the ballot processing room that added a public lobby and for an outreach program that en- couraged people to vote early. , Election staff also purchased a larger drop box in the alley next to the building housing the Auditor’s Office and another at the Twin Totems store on the Skokomish Reservation. In addition to staff, the Shelton High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps assisted the office on Nov. 2 and 3, helping direct voters to drop boxes and other tasks. McGuire called the NJROTC assistance a “huge help.” “While there were a few small bumps along the way, we had excellent preparation and some good luck that led to a smooth election,” McGuire wrote. “Having so many people vote early meant that we were able to report the vast majority of votes on Tues- day night and we are always happy about that. “I was uneasy about the first major election with same-day voter registration, because we had to pre- pare for a complete unknown in terms of the number of people that would show up on Election Day.” McGuire wrote that he was given an estimate done by an election expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that they would have 2,348 people in their office on Tuesday to register to vote or get a re- placement ballot, and that his office had to be pre- pared for that. “I knew that number of people would overwhelm us, so we closed the motor vehicle licensing counter on Monday and Tuesday and were prepared to use that staff and space to handle that crowd,” McGuire wrote. “My staff all pitched in and prepared, but hap- pily we did not face that number of people in one day.” McGuire also credited US. Postal Service staff in Shelton and throughout the state. “We were able to arrange to have a special truck come from the Tacoma Processing Center to the Shel- ton post office on the Sunday before the election and we got to pick up those ballots on Sunday so that we .mfifi Miguel Chipres of Shelton puts his ballot in the box in front of the Mason County Voting Center around 6 pm. Nov. in downtown Shelton. Journal photo by Shawna Whe/an were prepared for serving people on Monday and Tuesday.” Another key to a smooth election, according to Mc- Guire, was having access to grant money to conduct public outreach and get correct information out to the county’s voters, ensuring that there wasn’t a void to fill with misinformation. “We were able to do two countywide mailers and an insert in the Journal, plus a lot of radio and cable TV advertising,” McGuire wrote. “We also devoted a lot of staff time to providing good information on Facebook. I will let others decide whether we were successful, but I am very happy with our efforts.” With the bulk of the election now in the rearview mirror, the Auditor’s Office will reach out to voters with issues related to unmatched signatures or those who forgot to sign. Voters have until Nov. 23, the day prior to certifi- cation, to cure problems and have their votes count. The county’s canvassing board, which is composed of county commission chair Sharon Trask, prosecut- ing attorney Michael Dorcy and McGuire, will meet twice in the final process of certifying the election. The first meeting is Nov. 23, where the board will be tricky.” decide on ballots with issues that election staff was unable to resolve, including the decision on rejecting ballots. . “The canvassing board has delegated to my staff the authority to accept signatures and postmarks that they can verify, but reserved the decision about rejecting ballots,” McGuire wrote. “The board will go through ballot envelopes,-referred by the staff, and make final decisions about signatures and smudged postmarks, mostly. The decisions about unsignedbal- lots and late postmarks are easy, but signatures can Once those decisions are made, accepted ballots are tallied and the board will reconvene Nov. 24 to certify the election and sign the final canvass. “Urban counties had issues with lines of cars around drive—up drop boxes and large crowds of people registering to vote on Election Day,” McGuire wrote. “We were able to avoid most of that because so many voters got their ballots back to us on time. Overall, the feeling among my colleagues is one of relief. We got through a tough, contentious election with only a few isolated issues that mostly involved people want- ing to vote.” Grapeview port commissioners disappointed with results Justin Johnson just/n@masonoounty. com [Following the defeat of the Port of Grapeview’s levy lid lift measure on the Nov. 3 ballot, the port’s three commissioners expressed disappointment with its failure. , | _~ “We were completely overwhelmed at the rejec- tion,” Glenn Carlson, District 3 commissioner, wrote in an email to the Shelton-Mason County Journal. “Our present levy is about 3 cents which has been in existence since the ’90s. In 1991, almost 30 years ago, it was .03758. In 2020 that .037 58 would have to be .08 cents per thousand to have the same pur- chasing power. We Were only asking for a 1 cent in- crease which would have put us at what it was 30 years ago.” Ofthe 2,121 voters, more than 72% —— 1,528 —— re- jected it, while 593 voted “yes.” Port commissioner and president Jean Farmer wrote that the port has been frugal with its spend- ing, waiving the commissioners’ per diems for special meeting and relying on volunteers that donate “thou- sands of hours” to port projects. “The recent Washington Public Ports Association award for creative partnership for 2020 was a nice thank you, but the recognition by our locals was very discouraging,” Farmer wrote. ’ Port District 1 commissioner John Anderson — whose district includes Mason'Lake — said his dis- trict’s tally was disappointing. “We just spent $1,000 of our feeble treasury to in- stall no wake buoys and signage for water safety on Mason Lake,” Anderson wrote. “We were about to ad- dress noise on the lake, but I’m having a withdrawal of enthusiasm.” COVID: Officials Wary as indOor holiday Season begins continued from page A-1 people are falling prey to “COVID fa- tigue.” “More people, seem to have less drive to do the necessary mitiga- tion work of masking, hand hygiene and social distancing,” Stein said. “It seems to be younger individuals, which is driving our average age of cases down, and our number of cases up.” . Stein met virtually with the state secretary of health and the state health officer, along with the gover— nor, on the afternoon of Nov. 10 to be- gin mapping out strategies for reduc— ing COVID cases. Stein said he’s worried the rising numbers reflect a surge that started in September, which is especially troubling as the state heads into win- ter. A “Not only is it getting darker, cold- er and rainier, but the holidays are when families traditionally get to- gether indoors,” Stein said. “It’s a bit different from the number of outdoor events that tend to be held during Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, whose risk of transmission is less.” Because winter is already the re- spiratory virus season for Washing- ton, Stein said family gatherings could promote even more coronavirus , exposures within families. The fall surge has already erased progress the state made this summer, and state Secretary of Health John Wiesman said he fears that such dis- ease transmission increases could overwhelm the state’s hospital sys- tems and its ability to conduct contact tracing. “Each one of us needs to take im- mediate action to avoid new restric- tions and prevent our hospitals from becoming overwhelmed,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary of health for COVID-19 response. “We are all tired and want to spend time with loved ones during the holidays and continue to progress toward safely reopening schools, but high community rates increase the risk of every single activity we do. Unfortu- nately, the virus does not get tired or take holidays.” Stein suggested families celebrate virtual holidays and even wear masks while interacting with members of their own households. The state rec- ommends limiting in-person gather- ings, by attendance, frequency and duration, and maximizing the ven- tilation of wherever such gatherings take place. . In addition to conferring with state officials, Stein is also providing ad- vice to local school districts, although Stein said he defers to the authority and educational ability of the school districts to impart their own safety strategies to their staff and families. More COVID-19 data can be found -on the Department of Health website and in_ the state’s risk assessment dashboard, and additional resources for the holidays are available at coro— navirus.wa.gov/gatherings. ' car up; yea