Here’s how Washington election officials are ensuring ballots and voting is secure
Elections officials across Washington are reassuring voters that the state’s vote-by-mail system is secure, despite almost constant cyber probes, attacks and disinformation being spread online.
“Make no mistake, there are attempts at foreign interference right here in Washington,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman said at an online news conference Monday morning, Oct. 26.
But many of Washington’s 39 counties have been voting by mail for nearly two decades and several county auditors used the online event to discuss statewide election security measures.
“We’re very sensitive to the security issue and very confident at what we’ve done to protect peoples’ right to vote,” said Greg Kimsey, Clark County auditor.
For example, none of the county elections systems are connected to the internet and all handling of ballots — from mail collection to emptying of drop boxes to ballot sorting and tabulation — is done in the presence of at least two people.
Countywide ballot totals are uploaded to a separate state computer system, which itself has a sturdy firewall, using clean flash drives to thwart malicious software.
“The goal of all this is to have a resilient system,” Wyman said.
Benton County Auditor Brenda Chilton praised the state’s “open process” that allows observers to watch ballot handling in person and voters to track the progress of their ballots online at VoteWA.gov.
“Washington is ahead of the curve in many respects,” Chilton said. “We don’t have the same general worries about how we’re going to get things done.”
In Whatcom County, ballot processing is shown on a live webcam.
“It is an open and public process,” Chilton said. “It is a little more challenging this year because of COVID. But we do welcome observers.”
But misinformation is common, and Wyman said.
Fighting scams
Indeed, some Whatcom County voters have received emails suggesting that their votes have been changed, according to social media posts that show what appears to be a ballot.
Those emails or social media messages have a link to VoteWA.gov that takes voters to a list of government officials.
“This isn’t a screenshot of a ballot,” said Kyle Zabel, Wyman’s spokeswoman.
“The screenshot you sent just looks like the ‘My Elected Officials’ tab on VoteWA.gov, which is an official site,” Zabel told McClatchy in an email. “Any registered Washington voter can go online to VoteWA.gov, and click on the “My Elected Officials” tab on the left sidebar, and view who their current elected officials are.”
And last weekend in Snohomish County, Auditor Garth Fell said a truck hit a ballot drop box, prompting assumptions that it was an attempt to steal ballots.
“I think we need to slow down in jumping to conclusions,” Fell said.
And despite the damage to the ballot box, its contents remained intact, Fell said.
But it’s just that kind of misinformation that officials are fighting daily, Wyman said at the news conference.
Further, she said the state is working with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Guard to keep intruders out, Wyman said.
“Those National Guard members, in their day jobs, they’re working at Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing, These are some of the best cyber-security minds in the country,” Wyman said.
More than one-third of Washington state’s 4.8 million voters have returned their ballots, according to the Secretary of State’s Office website.
In Whatcom County, nearly two-thirds of eligible voters have returned their ballots, Auditor Diana Bradrick told The Bellingham Herald.
Bradrick said about 1,100 Whatcom County ballots have been challenged, primarily because the ballot wasn’t signed or the signature on the ballot didn’t match the one on file.
She said challenged ballots usually amount to 1% to 2% of the total vote.
A voter’s signature is a key step in the validation process for mailed ballots, Wyman said at the news conference.
Other auditors statewide said Monday that they have seen no increase in the percentage of signatures that have been challenged.
Voters whose signature are challenged are given a chance to fix or “cure” the discrepancy.
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Here’s how Washington election officials are ensuring ballots and voting is secure."
