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October 10, 2008 at 4:22 pm #588349
KenParticipantAbsentee ballots make up about 60% of the ballots in WA and some counties are entirely vote by mail.
We all will be vote by mail next year.
Unfortunately, around 30,000 of those ballots will not be counted (based on past years) due to errors made by voters while filling out or returning their ballots. More Voters using vote by mail will probably increase the percentage of those voided due to errors.
Local activist have made a video explaining the details of what you must do to make sure your ballot counts. This video is made from a King and Pierce county perspective but the general instructions should apply to all WA counties as far as I can tell.
I have been a counter in run-offs and an observer (both as party rep and citizen) for King county elections and am always saddened by those ballots which either have to be thrown out due to bizarre mistakes and an inability to understand or follow the instructions.
I am working on creating a text transcript to add to the video, which can easily be translated to make language specific versions.
This is the original as far as I can tell.
Mail-in Ballots: Make Your Vote Count in WA State
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C2mRsT794I
The embed link can be found on the YouTube page. (Hint to WSB editors) and the video is non partisan.
Credits:
Spokesperson: Vivian Phillips
Producer/Director: Terry Simpson
Editor: James Culbertson
Camera: Gordon Modin
Audio: Fernando A. Labarthe
October 10, 2008 at 6:07 pm #643073
andreaParticipantthank thank you Ken! I have voted by mail since I turned 18, and my greatest fear is always that my vote will not be counted for some unknown reason. I will endeavor to watch the above video to ensure that doesn’t happen!
October 10, 2008 at 6:08 pm #643074
JenVMemberKen, would you mind posting on the election day rules for voting in person? For instance, in some states they will turn you away if you show up to the polls in a candidate’s shirt (passive electioneering) Are there any rules we need to know here in Washington?
Thanks so much – your expertise is always appreciated!
October 10, 2008 at 7:08 pm #643075
ZenguyParticipantThanks for the refresher, it is much appreciated.
I have been voting absentee since the first Clinton election with the two hour line. Embarrassingly my vote was not counted last election because I forgot to sign it and I was in Hawaii. I will be in Hawaii again (makes any outcome better) and will not make the same mistake again.
October 10, 2008 at 8:13 pm #643076
KenParticipantI will hunt up the applicable RCW’s, WAC’s and their translations into human tongues. I don’t remember anyone complaining about candidate t-shirts or buttons on voters, but observers and poll workers cannot and anyone who hangs around after voting may be asked to leave by the poll judge if they are displaying partisan swag.
There are few states as crazy as SC about excluding people with buttons from voting, but that is just one of their many rules and laws designed to harass non republicans.
also note:
The video is now linked from this page on the WA SOS web site.
October 11, 2008 at 3:36 am #643077
KenParticipantRules and legislation in Washington state are scattered all over the RCW’s and I have a Paying research project ahead of any attempt to gather them all.
This PDF from the League of Women Voters has nearly all of the useful info in a readable document.
http://www.lwvwa.org/studies/election_reform_study.pdf
The important parts of WA electoral law flow from the doctrine of “Voter intent” where several Transparent and observable processes are used to try to keep from tossing a ballot as long as the voters intent can be determined.
This however does not stop the SOS from following Florida’s example and outsourcing the purging of felons (and possibly people with names similar to felons) from the roles just before a General Election.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/382100_voterecord08.html
October 11, 2008 at 5:10 pm #643078
c@lbobMemberIn the primary, the greatest number of ballots received by King County that didn’t get counted were postmarked after election day. Here’s a tip: if you get to the post office after its closed, drive to Portland OR and mail it from there. As long as the date you write by your signature is on or before election day, it will count with an out-of-state postmark. Even if the postmark is late.
If your signature is challenged and you receive a miscompare letter, follow the instructions on the letter to the nth degree. First, try to remember how you signed the envelope you sent your ballot in – your signature was challenged because it didn’t match the one on file. When returing information by mail, in order for your signature to be accepted, the signatures by the oath on the back of the challenge letter, on your picture ID and on the yellow registration form you should also return must have commonality with the signature on the envelope the ballot was returned in. If you can’t accomplish that, go to the elections office in Renton and sign in-person to assure your vote will count. If you sign in person, that signature becomes valid for the current and all future elections.
October 12, 2008 at 5:53 pm #643079
MagpieParticipantI have this (unfounded) paranoia that if I mail my ballot that somehow it could get lost. I always take my absentee ballot to the polling place as put it in the ballot receptable there (there is a special slot for absentee ballots). For some reason, that makes me feel better (of course, if I am going to be out of town, I mail it from a post office)..the best way to be sure that it is postmarked is to take it to a post office before election day. My polling place is a block from my house on the way to the bus stop, so it is easy for me.
October 13, 2008 at 3:36 pm #643080
KenParticipantJust a note on signatures:
I tested the software used at King County elections office several years ago. I have an unreadable signature and it varies quite a bit.
The software picked out the first letter of both my first and last name 10 out of 10 times. As long as the SOS has not mandated something more restrictive or onerous, the signature scanning and matching software should clear 99% of the properly filled out and signed ballots.
I suspect that if I had nervously tried to consciously write my name slowly, I could have produced something that would not match.
So don’t get to paranoid about the signature match.
October 16, 2008 at 1:50 pm #643081
KenParticipantBump for a new version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JnFoeZgwOA
This one has captions in English for those who have no speakers, or are hard of hearing.
It is the made from the template for the translations I am trying to gather up. Anyone who can translate into languages other than Chinese or Spanish, please contact me to get the template text file.
I will have to get them vetted so please no “jokers” :)
October 17, 2008 at 3:42 am #643082
ZenguyParticipantI just voted and will not make the mistake I made last time.
Some other tips I got.
-vote in black or blue pen, pencil is not allowed.
-Do NOT sign the ballot itself.
Go Obama!
October 17, 2008 at 8:19 am #643083
JanSParticipantI’m jealous..my ballot hasn’t gotten here yet :(
October 17, 2008 at 2:49 pm #643084
KenParticipantThey are often spread over several days.
Anyone who is registered as absentee and does not get their ballot by Tuesday, should go to the King County elections page and verify their registration.
Or do it now.
October 20, 2008 at 12:47 pm #643085
c@lbobMemberKen,
King County doesn’t use any scanning software to examine signatures. Although the ballots envelopes are photographed by the sorter, the signatue verification is all done by humans.
October 20, 2008 at 1:53 pm #643086
KenParticipantWhen did this start? The software is far more reliable than humans. Got a link?
If not I will have to go sign up as a citizen observer again. Any part of the counting and accept/reject process for ballots is observable by paid party observers as well as a limited number of citizen observers.
The original process used the software to start and any that either did not match or did not have a signature in file as a scanned image, went to humans for eyeball verification.
If only human eyes are used, this would slow counting to a crawl.
According to the observer schedule, signature verification starts today.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/elections/200811/observers.aspx
If you want to be a citizen observer or unsderstand the overview of the process, check out this pdf from the sos.
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/pdf/An_Observers_Guide_to_Washington_State_Elections.pdf
October 20, 2008 at 2:49 pm #643087
charlabobParticipantI strongly suggest people sign up to be observers, no matter what their issues (or if they have none). It’s a great view of democracy in all its messy glory.
October 20, 2008 at 3:23 pm #643088
CaitParticipant“I have this (unfounded) paranoia that if I mail my ballot that somehow it could get lost.”
Me too Magpie! Can someone quiet my fears?
My dad made a donation to the Kerry campaign that didn’t get there last election so I’m a little weirded out.
October 20, 2008 at 6:41 pm #643089
JanSParticipantCait and Magpie…you can take your absentee ballot to your polling place on Nov. 04, and put it in the box…bypassing the mail entirely.
October 21, 2008 at 2:14 am #643090
KenParticipantThis page shows ballot drop boxes. A WS location is:
Delridge Neighborhood Service Center, 5405 Delridge Way SW, 98106
http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/voting/ballotdropboxes.aspx
Save those stamps.
October 21, 2008 at 7:06 am #643091
c@lbobMemberI don’t know that computer scanning ever got past the investigation stage. Perhaps it was used in some election, but I know first hand that it hasn’t employed between August 2007 and now.
October 22, 2008 at 5:38 pm #643092
hellonwheels206MemberBecause I was irritated that my voter pamphlet arrived two days after my absentee ballot I called King County Elections office to find out why the pamphlets arrived after the ballots. Their answer: The Secretary of States office in Olympia is responsible for issuing the pamphlets.
Because I was more irritated I called the Secretary of State’s office in Olympia and was told by a staff member that “oh no…the State delivers the pamphlets to the Counties and it is THEIR responsibility to distribute them in a timely fashion. Hmmmm…..so I called King County back and relayed my info from the Sec. of State’s office….same response….the Sec. of State office is responsiblity to mail, and of course, she added, there was a National Holiday that interferred with the timing…..by this time I was really irritated and said” either you or the Secretary of State’s office is (using the “L” word) lying or the left hand has no clue what the right hand is doing. The fact that there was a National Holiday on Monday shouldn’t enter into it if the agency responsible doesn’t have enough brains to push up the mailing date. I also pointed out that informed voters are what we are striving for and that is the importance of the pamphlet. Then the staff member said……well, maybe it was the Post Offices fault……
I had had it by that time, and I said “well, obviously no one is willing to take the responsibility for the bad timing….”
I just called the Seattle Times and said look into this……….
What a joke! (…and I don’t mean that humorsly!)
October 22, 2008 at 10:49 pm #643093
ZenguyParticipantI definitely get your point and your frustration, there are little old people or people that just don’t like computers that rely on them. They are on-line as well.
http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/Pages/OnlineVoterGuideGeneral2008.aspx
October 22, 2008 at 11:19 pm #643094
hellonwheels206MemberZenguy….there are so many elderly people that don’t have, or can’t afford a computer, and many, many young people in families that can’t afford computers; the latter can’t vote but my point is that the whole world isn’t dependent on computers.
October 22, 2008 at 11:21 pm #643095
ZenguyParticipantReread my post, I agreed with you.
October 23, 2008 at 11:59 am #643096
c@lbobMemberSince the actual deadline for MAILING (getting to the Postal Service) in-state absetee ballots was Friday, October 17; and people were RECEIVING them on Thursday the 18 I would say both state and county did well in getting the material to voters in a timely fashion.
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