November 15, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty.com
Election day has come
and gone, but the Mason
County Auditor's Office was
still counting and process-
ing ballots Friday, when the
results of late ballots were
released.
The process of receiving,
counting and verifying bal-
lots is time consuming and
complicated, but assures
the accuracy and a voter's
privacy, Mason County Au-
ditor Karen Herr said.
When the auditor's of-
fice receives ballots, they
are sorted in sets of 50, and
sent to a team of employees
trained by the Washington
State Patrol to verify voter's
signatures on the ballot en-
velopes. Before taking the
ballot out of the envelope,
this team uses special elec-
tion software to scan the
barcode on the envelope,
.MP3"s
.Gameboy
Advance
which brings up an elec-
tronic version of the voter's
registration card.
Then, working in pairs,
the employees compare the
signature on the envelope to
the one on the voter's regis-
tration card.
If the signatures don't
match, the office leaves the
envelope closed, and sends
the voter a letter asking for
clarification.
After the signature is
verified, a team of employ-
ees opens the envelope and
sends the set of ballots, still
in security sleeves, to a sec-
ond team.
Having the second team
handle only the ballot, and
not the envelope, maintains
the secrecy of a voter's iden-
tity, Herr said.
Each year, election ob-
servers "-- members of the
public invited to learn about
the election process -- spend
time in the auditor's office to
see the ballot-counting pro-
cess. Herr said staff often
invites the observer to fol-
low their own ballot through
the process to test the safe-
guards for voting secrecy.
"At the end, nobody has
been able to say where their
ballot is," she said.
After pulling ballots out
of their security sleeves,
the second team checks for
anomalies, including stray
pen marks that could con-
fuse the ballot scanner, or
ballots marked with pencil,
to
Thank You
everyone for throwing me such a wonderful
95'h birthday party! What a nice surprise;
it was incredible and I am delighted!
Yo, u are why l am here.., l love you alll
--Nita
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Open 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday thru Friday
Since 1952
Nancy Graves, left, Valerie Sorenson, Lauren Orme and Fina Ormond, election
County Auditor's Office, work to count and process late ballots on Friday.
Journal photos by Natalie Johnson
staff in the Mason
which don't scan properly, sion chair, Lynda Ring Er-
Then the ballots are ickson, was a candidate, so
scanned, and resolved. Re- Commissioner Steve Bloom-
solving a ballot involves field served on the canvass-
checking for under voting ingboard.
-- or missing a category -- The auditor's office has to
and over voting -- or filling process replacement ballots,
in two boxes in one category, and those printed from the
They also check for write- Internet, separately from
in candidates. Some voters mailed ballots. Because
even draw arrows in at- they aren't the same size or
tempts to clarify their vote. format, they don't fit in the
'%Ve have very strict scanner, and staffhas to du-
guidelines on what is a vote plicate the vote onto actual
in Washington state," Herr ballots.
said. At the end of the process,
If staff in the auditor's all scanned ballots go onto
office can't resolve an is- a computer disk. The disk's
sue, the ballot goes to the software only allows it to be
canvassing board, which is opened at 8 p.m. on election
made up of Herr, the chair day, or 4 p.m. on Friday,
of the Mason County Board when additional votes were
of Commissioners and Ma- released, Herr said.
son County Prosecutor Mike The auditor's office will
Dorcy. count all remaining ballots,
able signatures, or were
flagged during the resolving
process, on Nov. 27, when
the election will be certified
by the Washington Secre-
tary of State.
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