Aug. 18 election is big test of King County mail balloting

On the vast, secured second floor of the King County Elections office in Renton, a handful of people sit in front of computers, examining every swoop, space and slant of voters' signatures.

"Sometimes it's just obvious," said Jean Lagrou, one of dozens of workers trained to verify signatures. "Sometimes, it's more complicated."

With poll voting a thing of the past, signature verification is key to maintaining the integrity — and voter trust — of King County elections. The process identifies registered voters and safeguards against people voting multiple times or with someone else's ballot. For the Aug. 18 primary, some 350,000 ballots are expected to pour in, the biggest test yet for the county's new all-mail elections.

A majority of King County voters routinely cast their ballots by mail, but 30 percent voted at the polls in recent elections, said elections spokeswoman Megan Coppersmith.

Mail-only voting in King County got a tryout earlier this year with a smaller contest, for elections director. Some 250,000 ballots were cast.

"King County has been evolving and moving toward an all-mail system for quite a while," Coppersmith said.

With competitive races for King County executive and Seattle mayor, the county expects a turnout of 33 percent of registered voters this month — slightly higher than normal for a primary featuring only local races.

Pierce County now is the only county left in the state that still lets voters go to the polls.

Where your ballot goes

Each ballot reaches election headquarters tucked into a security envelope and a signature envelope. It then goes through several steps before it is counted.

• A machine scans bar codes on the envelope, creates a digital image of the signature and sorts the ballot by legislative district. That way, a targeted recount can be done if needed.

• A signature verifier compares the image of the signature on the envelope with the one on file in voter registration.

If the signature can't be verified, it is passed on to a second employee. If the signature still can't be confirmed, the elections office sends a letter or makes a phone call to the voter seeking more information. About 3 percent of ballots need additional verification, Coppersmith said.

• Once the signature is verified, the ballot is removed from the signature envelope, which is set aside so it can't be connected to the voter. Then the ballot is taken out of the security envelope and checked by an employee for damage or other problems.

• The ballot is then scanned and the voting information collected. At that point, the vote is stored electronically in the elections computer system, but the information is not tabulated until Election Day.

Faster equipment

The county is using new machinery and software this year that was certified last week by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The new equipment scans ballots faster than older machinery, Coppersmith said.

The county expects that about 150,000 ballots will have arrived by Election Day, and the first results will be announced shortly after 8 p.m. But since ballots only need to be postmarked by Aug. 18, results will trickle in for another week, Coppersmith said.

Mail your ballot by Election Day or put it in a ballot drop box, which does not require postage. The boxes are open until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Once it's mailed, you can track your ballot's progress online at the King County Elections Web site (www.kingcounty.gov/elections).

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com