Washington County Elections Demo

The Washington County Clerk’s Office invited the public to a demonstration of their procedures for elections and vote tabulation. I was able to attend last Thursday the 9th.

Michelle Hagans with the Clerk’s Office went through their procedures for ensuring that every ballot is counted properly. Washington County has a vote tabulator at every polling location. These are tabulators only, so they help count and report the results of the election. Voters still vote on a paper ballot provided by a poll worker and these paper copies are retained by the county for a period of time after an election. Additionally, these tabulators do not have an internet connection as they do not have the required hardware installed for this.

A voter marks their ballot and deposits it into the tabulator. The tabulator scans the ballot to count the vote correctly and the ballot then drops into a lockable bin inside the tabulator. This bin is what is collected at the end of the evening and transported back to the county courthouse for safekeeping in the Clerk’s vault.

Some security precautions that they take include the two person rule. Whenever staff and poll workers handle ballots they always have at least two people with them. This includes driving to and from polling locations which can make shuttling people and vehicles a challenge, but it is obviously worth it.

The tabulator doors are secured with plastic seals with serial numbers. When these seals are broken to access the ballots, two poll workers verify the serial number and record it in their log. Doors to the actual components of the tabulator are also protected by tamper-evident tape.

Vote counts are verified from the total of ballots cast as well as the report generated by the tabulator. Ballots from one voting precinct can not be counted by a tabulator at a different precinct. They have several methods to verify totals and ensure accuracy and security.