From the Auditor

2024 was a full and successful year. Much has already been said about the November 2024 general election. I do have a couple follow-up items to address.

Apparently, one voter submitted two ballots, and we had a couple instances where someone might have signed a ballot for another voter, including a voter that might have passed away prior to the signature date on the ballot return envelope. Pending the results of an initial investigation, I will forward any pertinent information to the Mason County sheriff.

Elections belong to the people. Some citizens proposed a method to enhance ballot authentication by signature verification with the additional requirement for a voter to provide their date of birth. We are exploring what it would take to make this idea work and plan to propose it as a grant-funded project to the Office of Secretary of State per RCW 29A.40.111.

If approved, we will conduct a trial in the April 22 special election. If you have suggestions on how to improve your elections, I welcome your input and ideas. Meanwhile, your elections team has preparations for the Feb. 11 special election under way. There will be three school levy measures on the ballot.

I am happy to share that I’ve completed the requirements for certification as an elections administrator by the Office of Secretary of State. It was not easy. The requirements include mandatory and elective training, a lengthy exam, as well as two years of service in a state or county elections office.

We were honored to host a visit from Fire Protection District 12 Commissioner Steve Ingram. We provided commissioner Ingram an overview of the process for how ballot measures are prepared, approved and placed on a ballot, as well as a review of the financial processes between the fire district, the auditor’s office and the treasurer’s office.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Elections Administrator Marie Stevenson as chief deputy auditor. Marie will retain responsibility for election administration with this new role. This will allow me to focus on the completion of the county’s transition to an enterprisewide accounting system and work with your amazing financial services team on internal auditing and internal controls.

Your Licensing and Recording Department has been ramping up U.S. passport service since June. So far, they have processed 500-plus applications resulting in over $25,000 in additional revenue to the county. The passport service appointment calendar is filling up fast. On the recording side, the team recorded, indexed and verified over 13,000 documents that are now part of the permanent county record.

If you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution and want an easy one to accomplish, I encourage you to sign up for a free fraud notify subscription at http://www.masoncountywa.gov/auditor/recording.php. This service alerts you if anyone files a deed or lien against your property. As land fraud and deed fraud crimes increase across the country, a fraud notify subscription is one way you can help protect your real estate assets.