BENTON COUNTY, Wash. – Election security is a top priority in Benton County, where teamwork plays a crucial role in keeping ballots safe.
Grace Davidson, the Benton County election systems supervisor, emphasized the importance of teamwork in the election process.
“Everything in elections is teams of two, so you’ll never have an individual person with a ballot once it’s picked up all the way through it being scanned in and stored for retention. It’s always a two person team doing it,” Davidson said.
Ballots are stored in secure containers to prevent tampering and trained election workers use advanced technology to ensure accuracy. Security cameras are in place to monitor the process.
Election workers are trained by the Washington State Patrol to verify signatures. If a voter forgets to sign their ballot, the county will give them another chance to correct it.
“We keep the ballot on hand and we send them a letter just saying, hey, it looks like you forgot to sign your ballot. Please, send this letter back to us. And they have until the day before certification to send the letter back,” Davidson said.
The special election has seen a 26 percent voter turnout so far. However, Davidson is not concerned about the numbers.
“February and April special elections historically have low voter turnout. We average about 30%. We’ll still get some ballots trickle in in the next week that they’ve mailed it on election Day. So we might get up to that 30% mark, but a 30 to 35% range is average,” Davidson added.
For those interested in checking the status of their ballot or want to make sure it was signed, visit VoteWA.Gov. Special election results will be certified on February 21.
