by Jim Fox, Lead Democratic Observer

Preliminary Results -
8/25/08 Reg Voters 107,538, Ballots Returned 50,656 (47%), Counted 49,917 (46%)
8/22/08 Reg Voters 107,538, Ballots Returned 50,615 (47%), Counted 42,227 (39%)

Monday (8/25) was busy with an almost full staff of temporary and regular workers. Opening and Counting are now routine, with orderly well controlled procedures. Errors are few, most quickly caught and corrected.

Opening Board (Login, Signature-check, Opening, Checking, Duplicating, Etc.) is essentially complete. A few more ballots will come in this week (mostly foreign). A few ballots (refused by the counting machines) will require rechecking and counting. Counting will continue, as batches accumulate. The Canvassing Board will meet next week to review unsolved problem ballots, and Final Certification on Sept 4th.

Due to the new (Top-Two law), Write-Ins are requiring extraordinary manual processing. Tallying ALL variations of Write-In names (all races, candidates, variations) has generated a large manual tally task. In the past, those less than 10% and obviously Bogus (Donald Duck, Bat-Man, et al) did not require strict tallying. Unfortunately voters are very creative with Write-In names and there is a huge gray-zone between real people and illegible, fictitious nonsense. “Strict” interpretation of the law and rules created a processing a problem. The goal of course, is tallying a true count of valid voter intent. This is being resolved prior to Final Certification.

Jim Fox, Lead Democratic Observer

Preliminary Results - Friday 8/22/08 16:33 pm
Total Registered Voters 107,538, Ballots Returned 50,615 (47%), Counted 42,227 (39%)

Primary ballots continue to be pre-processed (opened, checked) and counted — though incoming mailed ballots Friday were few (<100?). Processing continues in an orderly manner, per standard procedures that evolve slightly as more efficient or more secure methods are approved.

A full staff of some 20 temporary workers (plus regular staff supervisors) were busy Thursday and Friday, likely part-time next week — with final certification Sept 3rd.

Besides paper vote-by-mail ballots, 4(?) voters used the Accessible Voting Terminals. For privacy, the AVU paper tapes will be “duplicated” (per standard procedures) onto machine-readable paper ballots, inserted into the standard counting stream.

Processing “Write-Ins” began Friday. In the past “Write-Ins” less than 10% of the total response did not need tally — which is an extremely labor intensive process. This year all Write-Ins must be tallied, and with local PCO races there are many. It will likely require 4-workers 2-days to process,sort count and check the Write-In votes.

Rules for interpretation are set by the Washington Secretary of State. For example is “M. Mouse” the same as “MikeyMouse”? Is “Bob Murdox,(R)” the same as “Robert Mordock, GOP”? Or, “Bill Jamsen” = “Wm. Jameson”? Is “Mary Smith-Roberts” = “Marie Smith”? Human based systems are complex.

Shirley Forslof, Whatcom County Auditor, would like citizens to be aware that the Canvassing Board of Whatcom County will begin the official canvass of the August 19, 2008, Primary Election with open public meetings beginning on August 27, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. Meeting dates and times are as follows:

Wed., 08/27/08, County Council Conference Room, 9:00 a.m.
Tue., 09/02/08, County Council Conference Room, 9:00 a.m.
Wed., 09/03/08, County Council Conference Room, Certification & Signing Of Official Canvass, 3:00 p.m.

All scheduled meetings will be held in the above listed locations on the first floor of the Whatcom County Courthouse, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, WA. Meetings may be added or canceled depending upon issues to be decided by the Canvassing Board. Citizens should call (360) 676-6742 or TTY (360) 738-4555 for changes in meeting dates and/or times.

“Who is the County Canvassing Board and what is their role in elections?”
[from the Whatcom County Auditor’s website]

The Canvassing Board is defined in state law. It is made up of three elected county officials. The members are:

* The County Auditor
* The Prosecuting Attorney
* The Chair of the County Council

The members of the Board can delegate their responsibilities. The Prosecuting Attorney usually appoints a Deputy Prosecutor and the Chair of the County Council shares this responsibility with the other six Council Members.

The Board is responsible for verifying the results from the voted ballots.

The Board reviews all mail ballots referred to them if they were received with a signature that does not match the one on file or if voter intent is not clear. No ballot may be rejected for any election unless done so by the Canvassing Board. Election staff members may not reject ballots.

The Board certifies the results of the election. This certification states that all votes have been counted and included in the vote total.

By Jim Fox, Lead Democratic Observer

As Democratic Observer I attended both most of the Election Day Counting and today’s Hand Count Audits. Per state law, ballots were pre-processed (checked for validity and readability) as they were received prior to Election Day.

On Election Day some 28,000 “clean” ballots were machine read (but not totaled until 8:00 pm). Three (Sequoia 400-C) industrial quality counting machines are in a secure basement room. There is no network (Internet, etc.) connection to the outside. Access is pass controlled, and as always workers never work alone. The machines had a Secretary of State “Logic and Accuracy Test” August 12th. Those results (still in the machine) were printed, counters zero-ed, and an empty Initial Report printed and approved. Every activity is logged on a master machine log.

Staff Operators ran batches of (typically 100-150) ballots through the machines (max 400/minute). Thanks to new silicon treated paper, there were fewer feed-problems and the machines stay cleaner than previously. Ballots that are misread are diverted to an “Outstack” and ballots with Write-Ins to a 3rd bin. Misreads are reviewed for problems and then either re-read, or diverted back to the Checking Team.

If a jam or misfeed occurs, the count can be stopped, rejected and re-run. When the batch is complete, the count is accepted. As everywhere, Log-In and Log-Out counts are strictly accounted. “Lost” or damaged ballots are quickly found and accounted.

During machine scanning, results are saved in machine/run files. Randomly during the day Party Observers called for six hand-count audit batches, 2 from each machine. These were set aside. Normally once counted, batches are sealed in boxes for archiving per state/county procedures. All pre-processed ballots were scanned by 6:30 pm and the machines secured. Observers from one or both parties were present most of the day.

After the polls closed at 8:00 pm, we returned to retrieve totals. Raw totals are printed and a copy of raw-text data is transferred by flash-drive to the county data network computers upstairs, where the Preliminary First Results were published about 8:45 pm. Some 25% of registered voter’s ballots were counted by Election Eve.

Meanwhile, on Election Day many new ballots were received, from drop-boxes around the county. As received, they began pre-processing through the multi-step log-in, signature-check, opening, checking, and if necessary cleaning or duplication. In Whatcom County this tightly structured procedure helps ensure that “voter intent” is tallied correctly, and that counting is trouble-free. Other states do differently.

For the next 2-weeks ballots will arrive by mail and be counted for final certification by the 3-member Canvassing Board on September 3rd. Roughly half of expected ballots have been counted.

This morning, six audit batches from yesterday’s machine-counts were hand counted. We had 2 experienced staff Counters, with 2 Supervisors and 7 Observers. Each batch of 100-150 ballots, was first sorted into piles for each of the possible (10) Governor Candidates (or blank). Counters exchanged piles for a check of their sort. Then individual piles were counted, logged, exchanged, recounted and logged. The process was repeated for ballots with Write-ins (which must be tallied manually later). Totals were then compared with the machine-count.

For five batches the (1-machine and 2 human) counts agreed. In one batch, one ballot with all votes circled was immediately spotted by the Counter. While “intent” was clear, it could not be machine-read correctly, and should have been “duplicated” as part of the checking pre-process. Everyone agreed with what happened; it was not a machine or programming count error; it was a pre-checking process error. One formal request for Hand-Count Escalation was noted. The batch will be returned to Checking for pre-processing and re-count, the other batches will be archived.

In general we in Whatcom County have a very good system. We have good machines, good materials, increasingly good procedures; and exceptionally dedicated staff at every level working as hard as possible to ensure that “voter intent” is tallied properly. How the inevitable exceptions to the standard exceptions are handled and resolved is the test of any real-world data-processing system. Election tallies are by nature a complex process, complicated with human variables. However, within the inherent limitations of human-marked, folded and mailed paper ballots, our processing is relatively secure, very-traceable, and accurate.

Observing is an interesting, necessary and enlightening activity. I encourage everyone to volunteer for training as an approved Observer sometime.

On Tuesday, August 19th 2008, I did a stint as an Elections Observer at the Whatcom County Elections Office. This was on Election Day, about 2:30-4:30 PM. .

I visited the Counting Room as well as the Ballots Vault.

The operation of the high-speed counting machines seems to be going well. Elections Supervisor Pete Griffin noted how well the new paper is working, running through the machines. There is next-to-nothing being transferred from the paper to the machines - dust, fibers, ink smears are almost absent with this paper, compared to that of other years. Pete had cleaned the machines only twice today (preventive maintenance) compared to perhaps 4 times needed with the paper used last year.

Someone else had selected the 4th and 5th batches for hand-counting. I selected the sixth and final batch about 4:15PM - and it was a batch of Duplicated ballots. Hand-counting will start about 9:am Wednesday Aug 20th, I am told.

Another piece of interesting and probably good news is that today’s counting run intended to include six boxes of ballots which had been received today - thus, same-day pre-processing. I left before they actually started, but the boxes were there and it seemed sure.

Additional staff were there being trained by Pete to operate the machines.

I also was able to see the ballot storage vault. The boxes of “active” ballots (this election) are held on open-wire shelves, within an additionally-enclosed cage within steel mesh partitions and a padlocked door. As with all rooms, the access to the vault room itself is by electronic badge registry. (I did not actually see if a key was also required, but I think so.)

(Side-note: the traffic I saw at the ballot-dropoff boxes was heavy and steady. On the street, staffers were standing there to help transfer ballot-envelopes from people in cars into the collection boxes - one on each side of the street.

Marian Beddill
Election Observer - Dem

On Monday, August 18th 2008, I did a brief stint as an Observer at the Whatcom County Elections Office, for an hour. This was the day before Election Day. I signed in at the public services counter, and got an official badge.

I visited two areas, both in the Court House (they are no longer using the space in the other building that was used last year.) In the small room by the entrance a crew was doing ballot receipt, with bar-code readers much like a grocery checkout. Each outer envelope has an ID of the voter coded, for registering that they have voted. These were envelopes which had not yet been opened, just had the signature flap split so they could be seen. It took the operator just a few seconds to have the ID read and registered.

I did not see, yesterday, the operation of opening the mailing envelopes.

Downstairs, I observed three main activities. The first was splitting open the security-envelopes, with a high-speed machine that runs them through in a fraction of a second each.

Next is the opening of the security-envelopes and removal and first inspection of the ballots. The operators appear to be arranging the ballots in the same direction (front-side and top-up), and visually scanning them for irregularities (following the State marking guidelines.) Just a few were brought to the Supervisor for discussion or confirmation of uncertainties. Those not meeting the guidelines were placed into a different set, for duplication.

Last was the ballot duplications. The room is supplied with a resource table holding blank ballots for each Precinct and Style, placed in numerical order. This operation is in a team of two people. A batch was started by one person reading out the number of the Precinct and Style, and the other person pulling a blank for that Precinct and Style from the stock - handing it to the reader who verifies it is the right one and stacks them Orig/Blank-Dup/Orig/Blank-Dup/Orig/Blank-Dup, etc. Then one member marks the blank according to the intent of the voter, passes both to the other operator, who confirms the marking is accurate.

There are log-sheets which accompany the bundles/batches through these steps.

When I was done, I returned the badge to the main office and left.

Submitted by Marian Beddill, Dem Observer

Observer Report 8/8/08, by Jim Fox

As Lead Democratic Observer, I observed the first morning of the 2008 Primary ballot Opening Boards. As ballots are returned by mail, pre-processing can begin — though actual counting must wait for Election Day (August 19th).

The overall process is surprisingly complex. For example, in Whatcom County (due to overlapping Precinct, Fire, Water and School Districts), there are more than 110 different “style” ballots. Each must be designed, printed and counted differently.

Thanks to public and government participation, Whatcom County has evolved a good secure paper, vote-by-mail system. Equipment, procedures and staff are good. The goal is to achieve an accurate count of “voter intent.”

While voter marked paper ballots provide the essential audit trail, it introduces all the variations of a human-crafted product. Pre-checking the ballots, ensures that the machine counting will be as trouble-free as possible.

After returned ballots are logged-in and signatures checked, the unsigned ballots are separated from any voter identification. Ballots are processed in “batches” of 50-100, strictly accounted at every process station.

After removal from the white privacy envelop, each ballot is first reviewed by staff for quality — they must be machine readable. Coffee-stains, stray marks, tears, creases, food — everything possible has been found. The Secretary of State publishes standard criteria for what does and does not constitute a valid vote. The goal is “voter-intent.”

Ballots that are damaged or cannot be machine-read properly are carefully “duplicated” (logged in and out) onto a clean ballot that will have voter-intent read correctly. Ballots not meeting state standards, are referred to the 3-member County “Canvassing Board” for final review and disposition. Every process is strictly controlled; and staff work hard to ensure an accurate count.

Depending on returns, pre-processing will continue until Election Day, and continue until final Certification (September 3rd). The 3 counting machines will be tested for Logic and Accuracy on August 12th. Three Accessible Voting Units are available for use.

On Friday (8/8/08) Democratic Observers Jim Fox and Madelyn Pyeatt observed the first opening process. Despite new procedures (more attention to write-ins), the process began well. Twelve temporary and Auditor Office staff were working.

Anyone who is interested in observing as a Party Observer, is encouraged to attend the Training Class (2-hrs) and then observe the process. It’s a very enlightening and essential part of the democratic process. For information contact me.

Jim Fox, 647-7039

On September 14th, the Central Committee gathered to hear the pro and con sides of each of the ballot measures that will appear on our general election ballots. Thank you to the very informative speakers who came to represent their issues. A listing of our endorsed position on these measures is now available on the web site.

» See Endorsed Positions on Ballot Measures

August 10 is the Central Committee Endorsement Meeting

One of the most important dates for Whatcom Democrats is the annual endorsement meeting. It is the meeting at which all those seeking endorsement by the Whatcom County Democrat Party will have a chance to speak their minds and let the rest of us know what they’re up to.

This year, an additional highlight of the meeting will be the first reading of the resolution changing the by-laws. While it may not SEEM like a highlight, it actually is an opportunity for everyone to help determine how their local organization is run. Copies of the proposed by-law changes will be available.

All Whatcom Democrats are encouraged to attend.