Election Safeguards in Okanogan County

A few words about election safeguards in our county.

Poll workers are paid, non-partisan temporary positions. These are the people who log and batch all incoming ballot envelopes, scan and verify the signatures, open the outer envelopes, etc. Only the auditors staff scans the ballots into the county machines. None of these positions are observers.
 


Official Party Observers are mandated by Washington Code. A call is put out for each election cycle offering both the Democratic and Republican Party the opportunity to have two official observers from each Party. Individuals with no party affiliation may also ask to observe and may be allowed on a space available basis. Closed circuit cameras allow the ballot processing to be observed by anyone from their home computer.
 


In addition to official party observers, both the Democrats and the Republicans take part in State's two required audits: an audit for duplicated ballots, and a random audit of three precincts (selected in consensus by the chairs of each party).
 


We also have volunteers who collect ballots from the ballot boxes and deliver them to the auditors' office. Volunteers work in teams of two (one Democrat and one Republican) with numerous safeguards that make it impossible to access the ballot box without both team members.

If you are interested in being an observer or helping to collect ballots, please contact us.