Training, procedures undergoing changes

The historically close 2004 governor's election revealed several problems with King County Elections. The division says it is making procedural changes that will help the Sept. 20 primary election run more smoothly.

Some past problems and the division's responses:

Problem: Employees weren't trained sufficiently to use a new computer system.

Response: Every temporary and permanent member of the elections staff has gone through additional training. In addition, some staff members have traveled to Los Angeles County in California and to Snohomish and Pierce counties to watch how workers there use the same system.

Problem: Ballots got lost and were later discovered uncounted.

Response: Holes in absentee-ballot envelopes help ensure that ballots won't be left in envelopes. A new requirement ensures that poll workers check machines for ballots to make sure they don't get left behind. "Ballot accountability" forms filled out by poll workers require them to reconcile ballots.

Problem: Provisional ballots were mistakenly run through machines along with poll ballots.

Response: Provisional ballots are shaded green and marked so they can't be read by counting machines.

Problem: Poll workers weren't trained to troubleshoot.

Response: The county increased poll-worker training by an hour and will have more troubleshooters on hand at election headquarters to answer questions called in by poll workers. The county also will have some handheld computers for poll workers to use to answer simple questions.

Problem: Polling places ran out of provisional-ballot envelopes.

Response: There will be more envelopes this year. Last year, a national advertising campaign about provisional voting and an unexpectedly large voter turnout contributed to the problem.

Problem: Felons who had not had their voting rights restored were allowed to register and cast ballots. Some people were double-registered, and others double-voted on behalf of dead family members.

Response: King County has removed more than 850 felons and 6,500 deceased voters from its voting rolls since last year's election. In addition, the office has started using newspaper obituaries to update the voter rolls daily.

Problem: Absentee ballots were left uncounted because signatures weren't on file in the county's computer system.

Response: The county had a procedure in place last year to confirm absentee voters' identity, but it wasn't followed. That procedure has been tightened, and the county has started doing more reports to identify missing signatures before they need them to verify votes.

Problem: In some precincts, there were discrepancies between the number of votes tallied and the number of voters recorded as casting ballots.

Response: New forms and increased poll-worker training are expected to help.

Problem: Ballots were mailed late in 2002 and 2003.

Response: The county has updated its computer system, and the new system alerts workers if ballots aren't being processed fast enough.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com