Concerned about the validity of Pierce County elections? Watch the process for yourself
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about how the election process works and how your vote is tallied. Pierce County is looking to set the record straight.
On Wednesday at 10 a.m., the Pierce County Elections Office will conduct a pre-election audit using the ballot counting and processing equipment. The public is invited to watch the Logic and Accuracy Test, which will take place at the Pierce County Elections Center (2501 S. 35th St. Suite C, Tacoma). A pre-election audit of the county’s Accessible Voting Unit will occur at 8 a.m.
“The Logic and Accuracy Test verifies that votes are being correctly tabulated and recorded through sample ballot-casting exercises. Elections staff enter a set of sample votes for each candidate and ballot measure, as well as one or more overvoted ballots for each contest,” the county said in a Friday press release. “The sample votes, called a test deck, are processed through the tabulation equipment. Then, the test deck is compared to the tabulation results to ensure that the vote count is accurate.”
As previously reported by The News Tribune, members of the public were invited to observe a hand-recount of the state Commissioner of Public Lands race in August following one of the closest primary election races in state history. County Auditor Linda Farmer explained to The News Tribune the process and care elections officials take to ensure accuracy, and observers from each political party were in attendance.
“We run our voting system through rigorous testing before and after every election,” Farmer said in Friday’s news release. “It’s our job to make sure everything is working properly for the more than 564,000 registered voters here in Pierce County who can make their voices heard by casting a ballot.”
The general election is Nov. 5. Learn more about how to register to vote, who your candidates will be and where your nearest ballot box is online at the Pierce County Elections website.
Ballots will be mailed out by Friday, the same day 51 ballot drop boxes open. Voting ends Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.
