So we have about three elections in our state House that are too close to call. One of them is about 80 votes apart, one is a little over 100, and another is just above 500. When two candidates are less than 0.5% apart, there is an automatic recount.
When county auditors' offices are counting votes, there are some (a lot in some places) they set aside. Some the machine doesn't count because there's something wrong with the filled-in bubble. Some people forget to sign their ballots, or the signature in the voter system doesn't match how they signed their name. So the auditor's office sends these voters a letter letting them know their vote hasn't been counted yet (this isn't nationally- just within our great state due to legislation). When people still don't respond, the Republican and Democrats can request the list of people whose vote hasn't counted and why. (By the way- if you live in Thurston County, you can go to http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/auditor/Elections/2008Elections/General/Ballots/Ballot_Rcvd.htm and look for your name to see if your ballot has been counted. Other counties may do this, but I haven't checked.)
So then, the parties go out and knock on doors and make calls to people who didn't have their vote counted. Of course, the parties are going to knock on doors or make calls to voters that typically vote for their party.
So today we went up to the 44th district, which includes Lake Stevens, Snohomish and parts of Everett. We had names, addresses and forms. The forms had a place for the voter to sign, stating that they hadn't voted more than once, that they are legal voters, etc. Then there's a place for us (witnesses) to sign.
So lesson for today: SIGN YOUR BALLOTS, PEOPLE!!
No comments:
Post a Comment