A King County elections official who became mired in the controversial and razor-thin governor’s race in 2004 has been hired as Snohomish County’s new elections manager.
Garth Fell, 34, of Edmonds will start work in Snohomish County next month, county Auditor Carolyn Diepenbrock said. He will earn about $84,000 a year.
He currently oversees absentee ballots for 600,000 voters in King County. He has worked for that county’s elections department for 12 years.
Fell was at the center of charges of poor ballot handling in the 2004 gubernatorial election, during which some King County absentee ballots were not accounted for. Fell and others were put on probation after mistakes in his unit came to light. The case went to the courts and Fell was grilled by lawyers.
Since then, officials have heaped praise on him for being a leader in fixing King County’s beleaguered elections.
“In the years since 2004 Garth has dedicated himself to becoming the leader, change agent and elections professional who has been a central figure in the turn-around of King County Elections,” wrote Sherril Huff, King County director of elections.
Fell will be a great addition to the auditor’s office, Diepenbrock said.
“He was at King County during the 2004 gubernatorial election and he walked away from that with a lot of knowledge and experience on how to make elections accountable and the very best that they can be,” Diepenbrock said. “He is an individual with a lot of integrity and is very honest.”
Fell oversaw absentee ballots in King County starting in May 2004 at a time when the county was implementing a new voter registration system for tracking those ballots.
During the November 2004 election, some absentee ballots had signatures that didn’t match those in the system, and staff failed to research those ballots thoroughly, Fell said Thursday.
In a sworn deposition in 2004, Nicole Way, an elections worker, said that she and Fell, her direct supervisor, approved a Nov. 17 mail ballot report that falsely showed all absentee ballots had been accounted for, the Associated Press reported at the time. She said they couldn’t get the numbers to add up otherwise.
In his deposition, Fell said King County elections superintendent Bill Huennekens knew about the inaccuracies in the report before the county canvassing board certified the election results, according to the AP.
“The irregularities, although difficult to explain … were shown not to be the result of conscious decisions to not count ballots,” Fell said Thursday.
The staff “thought they were operating under what was appropriate,” Fell said.
“Certainly, I take responsibility for what happened within my work unit at that time,” Fell said. “In reviewing that process, we tried to identify where there were differences of opinion between lead staff and supervisors and the director. Because I was new, and managing from expectations of the previous supervisor, they had expectations of how the signature verification process was handled for those not in the system. Those processes were set. I was working to understand the processes as best I could.”
Fell said after the election, his probation lasted a series of months during which his performance was strictly evaluated. Officials reviewed “the changes I made to my operating style, communication style and essentially to see if I learned lessons from 2004. I believe I demonstrated that certainly I had.”
Fell has improved King County’s elections, said Nick Handy, the secretary of state’s director of elections.
“Garth was in the trenches during the 2004 governor’s race and he proved himself in King County as a reliable and skilled election administrator,” Handy said. “I think he got caught up in a decision in the governor’s race that came back and haunted him.”
“There were a lot of decisions being made under an intense, high-pressure environment,” Handy added. “I think some mistakes were made. I think Garth has owned up to them. They’re really overshadowed by the entirety of his service there. He really is highly respected for everything he does. He’s been a part of the solution there, even though he may have been a part of the early mistakes.”
Fell has a 1997 bachelor’s degree in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington.
He said he is eager to join Diepenbrock’s office, which has a reputation for having an elections system that is accurate and transparent, accountable and well-managed.
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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