Vandalized drop box ballots to be counted

The King County Elections Canvass Board met today and directed staff to complete the processing of the 860 ballots that were returned to a ballot drop box that was vandalized last week. The impacted ballots had already been authorized to be processed up through the signature verification stage and were kept separated from all other returned ballots pending today’s determination. The Board ruled that these ballots are eligible to be counted and shall continue through the remaining steps of processing, but will remain separated from other ballots in the event of a legal challenge.

Due to the large number of precincts in King County, these ballots will not be sorted beyond processing batches in order to protect the secrecy for the voters associated with them.

Elections’ staff discovered on November 4 that the drive up ballot drop box located at the temporary Elections headquarters in Tukwila had been vandalized sometime during the night or earlier that morning.

King County Elections Director Sherril Huff who chairs the Canvass Board explained, “There was no reason to believe that this was anything more than a voter who was frustrated by not getting their ballot returned in time. While it is sad to think that anyone would knowingly violate the elections process, counting these ballots was the right thing to do. The decision by the Canvass Board was unanimous.”

This is the first incident that anyone at Elections could recall of a drop box being vandalized while an election was underway.