Benton City woman receives jury summons for her late mother

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BENTON COUNTY, Wash.-

Louetta Shiplet was going through her mail earlier this month and found a jury summons for her mother who died back in 2018.

She says her mother did not have a driver’s license in Washington but was a registered voter.

“It was like August or September when I finally got to the auditor’s office to take her off the voter registration,” said Shiplet.

Louetta’s says her mother had no Washington driver’s license and the auditor says her name was canceled in their system back before 2019.

Benton county clerk Josie Delvin says their jury lists are generated every year with information from the previous year. She says they don’t know if there are changes in people’s status within other departments, like the auditor or department of licensing unless people tell them because their systems don’t communicate with each other.

“The way they get that list is from the Department of Licensing and the voter registration. It’s not all combined when we get it. So our computer system looks at the duplicates, and that pushes all the jury names into our jury system,” said Delvin.

Delvin says if there is a problem as it pertains to a summons, first call the clerk’s office, then check in with the auditor and the Department of Licensing.

“There could be a computer glitch but its humans that are entering the information, we are not perfect and we do make mistakes. So it could happen,” said Delvin.

Delvin thinks in Louetta’s situation, this may have happened because of the timing of different reporting from the multiple departments to the state. She says she doesn’t think a computer glitch or human error is to blame.

So if there is a name change, status change, or you moved, update your information with the auditor, clerk, and the department of licensing.

When it comes to updating voter information, Brenda Chilton, Benton County Auditor, says updated signatures are important.

“We compare the signatures on any ballots that were returned, and we compare the signature on any ballot we receive,” said Chilton.

Address or last name changes, as well as status changes, are all things that impact voting records. Oftentimes, the signature the auditor has on record is from your license.

They verify each signature on a ballot with the signature they have on file for that person.

To find out more about changing voter information, click here.

 

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