Read all about the election

SPOKANE — Two new elements will be in play in the upcoming August primary election — one with a physical manifestation the other less so, but with a possibly large presence nonetheless.

The first element comes via a legislative mandate during the last session in Olympia, requiring all 39 Washington counties to print a voter pamphlet. The size —and subsequent cost —will depend upon the number of races and measures appearing on the ballot, with small counties printing a 1-2 page flyer stuffed in the same envelope as the ballot while others like Spokane are producing booklets.

The county’s elections chief, Auditor Vicky Dalton, said printing the 32-page pamphlet will run about $21,000 and add to the over 40,000 pounds of paper needed to print three envelopes and one ballot for the election. The county will mail over 323,000 ballots to local voters, and approximately 235,000 pamphlets since the law passed by the Legislature required these only need go to households, not individual voters.

Dalton said in passing a mandate for voter pamphlets, the Legislature believed it was acting in the best interest of voters.

“Many voters say they use pamphlets,” Dalton said. “I’m sure that’s what the Legislature heard. Voters by their communication have told the Legislature that this is a product you find useful.”

But while listening to voters, the Legislature didn’t hear local officials who were advising them that if they mandated pamphlets they also needed to provide funding to pay for them. Consequently, Dalton said the cost of the unfunded mandate will be picked up locally.

“This be an added cost for each of the jurisdictions (with candidates and/or measures) appearing on the ballot,” Dalton said.

Typically the state produces a voter pamphlet for state and federal elections in even-numbered years. Some counties have produced voter pamphlets at times in the past for local elections, with Spokane using federal money in 2007 to print one that proved popular.

“It’s not cheap,” Dalton said. “Back then, it was over $30,000. I wouldn’t be surprised if we double that in the general (election).”

The other element in the primary election is it will be the first widespread election since the November 2020 election and its allegations of election fraud. While much of the attention was on the presidential election, Washington state didn’t escape those accusations as former gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp filed a lawsuit against nine county auditors — including Dalton — claiming “intolerable voting anomalies” in his 545,000-vote loss to Gov. Jay Inslee.

Culp eventually dropped his lawsuit, but the consequences of it and former President Donald Trump’s claims of “massive” election fraud are still ringing in election officials’ ears. Dalton said her office has fielded calls from residents asking about voting processes that take place in other states.

“It’s pretty clear a lot of voters do not understand our basic process in the state of Washington,” Dalton said.

Washington has been a vote-by-mail state since 2011, and Dalton said the best way to ensure this process works is to start by going to VoteWA.gov to make sure voter information is up to date. Voters can confirm their mailing information, and new voters can register online up to eight days before the Aug. 3 primary – July 26. After that, voters can register at the county election’s office until 8 p.m. on election day.

Dalton said the next step is vote. The process is easy: follow the steps to fill out the ballot, place it first in the security envelope, seal it, place that envelope in the return envelope, date and sign it and either mail it — postage already paid — or drop it in a local ballot drop box available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ballots must be postmarked or dropped off by 8 p.m. Aug. 3.

Dalton urged voters to use their regular signature when signing the return envelope. If you don’t remember what that is, she suggested looking on your driver’s license or state identification card.

Election Department workers check the signatures on the return envelopes against what is on file for that voter. If a mistake is detected, voters have the opportunity to fix it.

“The reality is we check every, single, signature,” Dalton said. “If it doesn’t correspond, we’ll set it aside, contact the voter and offer them a chance to come in and cure it. One-half of 1% to 1% of ballots returned have signatures questioned.”

More information on the voting process is available in the voter pamphlet or on the county Election Department website.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].