GUEST COLUMN

The last quarter of 2023 was busy and productive. Your Financial Services Department finalized and published the Mason County 2022 Annual Report. The Auditor’s Office is responsible for reporting the complete activity for prior-year finances, per RCW 36.22.10(4). You can find this report at http://www.tinyurl.com/ye22b2ne.

To better support veterans, your Recording Department team provided the ability for veterans to record, process or obtain certified copies of their Form DD214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty for free per, RCW 73.04.030. To record your DD214, contact the recording team at 360-427-9670, extension 467 or visit our office in Shelton.

35.27% of registered voters in Mason County voted in the Nov. 7 general election. We continually look for ways to encourage and increase the expression of citizens’ sovereign power by voting. We also recognize that in a free society citizens have the right to not participate. You can find substantial data from this election including ballot batch level analysis at http://www.tinyurl.com/38ata923. Make no mistake — your vote matters.

We received approval for a second tranche of funds from the Secretary of State’s Information Security Grant. We are using those funds to further protect your Clear Ballot voting system against potential physical and wireless threats. We are also using these funds to upgrade several ballot drop boxes around the county and relocate a few for better voter access. In addition to grant-funded activities, we have implemented an additional test to ensure voting system integrity. It’s called a “hash value” test, where we capture and compare software images of the system before logic and accuracy testing and after election certification to confirm nothing changed in the system software.

Voter registration database maintenance continued with the excellent work done by your elections team in response to data from the Secretary of State (Electronic Registration Information Center and USPS National Change of Address databases). Additionally, we investigated voter registration challenges from citizen voters under Chapter 29A.08 RCW. We also now receive regular reports from the county coroner to help remove deceased voters from the voter registration database in a more timely manner. With this work, we now provide our vote-by-mail ballot supplier with “yank lists” to pull ballots out of their production process for voters who moved out of state or passed away.

Contingency planning is essential for conducting your elections regardless of situations and circumstances. With that in mind, we hosted a demonstration of a ballot hand-counting process used in other states to evaluate it for potential use in a “worst case” scenario where power is down and transportation constrained for a prolonged period of time. The method demonstrated is very efficient and accurate, though would take some modification to apply it with our current ballot design.

Looking ahead, we will conduct five elections in 2024, including the presidential election. This presents ample opportunity for you to participate in your elections as a volunteer, or part-time worker, or an election observer. I look forward to seeing you.