Washington voter turnout boosted by new outreach programs
The 2024 general election is now in the books and Washington election officials are sharing details about turnout.
They’re also talking about about the effort they went to to get people to vote.
During a Senate committee hearing last week, Election Director Stuart Holmes said the Secretary of State’s office introduced a new way for people to sign up to vote.
“Using their last four of their Social Security number. No different than using your driver’s license. The Social Security number is verified at the time of transaction. It would be prevented if it fails that verification," he said.
Holmes says 24,000 people registered that way. He says 215,000 opted in to another new program, agreeing to receive text messages that updated them about the status of their ballots.
Kylee Zabel from the Secretary of State’s office said her agency added to its usual array of voter information outreach programs and partnered with local sports teams.
“We created a lot of different video content for this campaign, focusing on election integrity topics like voter roll maintenance, signature verification, secure ballot processing and other topics," she said.
Zabel says the Secretary of State’s office plans to continue its voter education campaign in advance of upcoming elections.
Upper Columbia River gets Superfund designation
Beaches of the upper Columbia near Northport have been polluted for decades by heavy metals such as lead and arsenic.
Most of the contamination came from a smelter on the Canadian side of the border.
Now the site is on the Environmental Protection Agency's superfund list after years of studies and some clean-up.
EPA regional administrator Casey Sixkiller told SPR News the designation will ensure further restoration efforts will have funding.
“Number one, it unlocks resources — not just resources to conduct additional clean up, of which we know we have 150 additional residential properties that we know still need to be addressed — but also, the resources of how we come up with a comprehensive plan,” he said.
About 60 residential properties have been cleaned up so far.
The Colville and Spokane Tribes were some of the groups that supported the Superfund designation.
Sixkiller said the tribes have a real interest in ensuring the fish and wildlife they consume are free from heavy metals contamination.
Pertussis still at high levels; most cases among young people
Pertussis cases in Washington remain at the highest levels seen since 2015, and most reported cases have happened to children.
More than 1,800 Washingtonians have been sickened this year by pertussis, a bacterial infection also known as whooping cough.
Fifty-four percent of reported cases have happened to children five to 18 years old, indicating that schools are common places for transmission.
In an update earlier this month, the Washington Department of Health said pertussis vaccinations – especially for pregnant women and young children – are the best way to protect against serious illness. Adults should get a booster shot every ten years.
The agency noted 20% of Washingtonians infected by pertussis this year were one to four years old. That group was born during a decline in immunization rates. Those rates have not climbed back to pre-pandemic levels.
Of the 156 infants who had pertussis, the Department of Health says 134 were eligible for a vaccination. But only 29 (about one in five) actually got one.
Take care when buying online this holiday season
Federal officials are urging people who are doing their holiday shopping online to take basic precautions to protect their bank accounts and identities.
Dan Brown from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in Spokane urges people to buy from reputable retailers. He says you can check to see whether the vendor is protecting your information by looking at the address bar.
“If you see a lock on there, just to the left of the address, then that shows that it is encrypted. If it’s 'https', 's' means that it is encrypted, if it’s just 'http', then it is not," he said.
Brown also urges buyers to use credit cards, rather than debit cards, when checking out to give you more protection in case of fraud. Also, because you may be charging more purchases during the holiday season, he urges you to watch your credit card and bank statements closely to ensure they’re accurate.
You can find holiday shopping security tips from CISA here.
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Reporting contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Steve Jackson and Brandon Hollingsworth.