EVERETT — For the U.S. Department of Justice to even consider criminal charges against state or local elections officials for inadequate voting systems makes no sense to Snohomish County Auditor Garth Fell.
As the person responsible for overseeing local elections in the county, Fell said existing safeguards provide more than adequate security and transparency for voters.
“The system that’s been in place for years in this country, where there’s local administration of elections that ensures you have processes that work for local communities,” he said in a June 3 interview. “You’re going to find that all counties take the same level of care to ensure that their vote counting systems and ballots are securely stored and that there’s a secure, accurate, fair elections process.”
Fell was referring to a recent New York Times story on July 2 about the Trump administration exploring the possibility of criminal charges against state and local officials if computer systems are deemed improperly safeguarded.
However, Fell sees no reason the federal government would need to get involved.
“Washington state has a robust set of laws already on the books that deal with system security,” he said.
Most recently, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 5014 on May 17. The bill will require the secretary of state’s approval for any modifications made to equipment or platforms used to count votes.
It will also mandate the disclosure of security breaches and require certain cybersecurity measures. Snohomish County is already following some of the measures, including the installation of a vote-counting system that is not connected to the internet, Fell said. The bill becomes law on July 27.
Snohomish County elections are not an easy target for voter fraud, Fell said.
“You have a distributed security system, in that it’s not one entity that would need to be compromised,” Fell said. “You’re looking at thousands and thousands of entities that would need to be compromised in order to impact the outcome of an election.”
In July 2024, the auditor’s office debuted a new $8.6 million, 17,000-square-foot elections center in downtown Everett. The office was designed for “capacity, security and transparency,” Fell said at the time.
All vote counting happens on one floor. Each room is visible from an observation loop through large glass windows. Monitors on the walls show live video of election workers for all to see.
Public visits to the building are encouraged to see how the election process works, Fell said last week. Questions about elections are always welcome at his office, he said.
While areas are visible, rooms have strict security. Certain areas, like the ballot storeroom and vote counting system, need two people with two key cards and two different passcodes.
“Once ballots are here on the floor, they will stay on this floor until they’re counted and then stored for long term retention,” Fell said. “So they’re always within our control. They’re always under those secure systems.”
Stuart Holmes, director of elections for Washington State, said the state has “the best system in the country.”
“It never gets lost on me that we have laws coming from the state level and the federal level to try and help make our elections secure,” Holmes said, “but laws rarely do that. What we need is funding to make sure our processes and equipment are secure.”
While the Justice Department is exploring heightened punishments, federal money in support of election security is declining. The state has had to look for other partners to find funding, Holmes said.
Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
