During the past two weeks, representatives from the Spokane County auditor’s office have held three training sessions geared toward Republicans and Democrats who want to watch the post-election ballot counting. The sessions are required for observers.
"We teach them about the entire process from start to finish, from voter registration to mailing out the ballots to processing and signature verification, opening, tabulation, letting them know the whole process," said Ryan Dosch, the lead supervisor in the election's office.
"So before they come in to observe, they know what to look for. They can see, they know things that are out of the ordinary that don't follow our training that they can bring to our attention or ask questions that way."
DN: What are some of the other requirements that they have to go through in order to go through this whole process?
RD: They have to be appointed by a county of the party chair or by a candidate or campaign to come in. Then they have to go through this training and then they'll sign an acknowledgement form that they went through the training and understand all the rules before they come in. And then that's it. They coordinate the time to come in with their party supervisor or with the candidate or campaign. And then they come in and observe.
DN: When can they come and observe?
RD: It's anytime that we're processing ballots, incoming ballots that are coming in. We post the schedule on our website and it depends on the election, how big the election is, the hours that we'll be working and processing. But they schedule the time to come in and anytime that we're processing, they can come in and observe.
DN: When they come in, what is their interaction with you?
RD: There's several different areas that they can observe from. From our sorting equipment, by our tabulation equipment, for signature verification, through the steps of opening. If they want to be moved from one area to the other, they're escorted. And we ask that they keep talking to a minimum because we're concentrating, we're counting. If they have a question, they can raise their hand or ask a full-time staff member. Or they have comment and question forums at every location. They can jot down a question that we can answer later.
DN: And if they have a place they want to challenge, for example, ballot or something like that, what are their options there?
RD: They can write down what they don't agree with or they have a question about. And then we'll go back and go over with them, you know, if it's a signature they were wondering about, we can show them the signature that, yes, it actually did match or didn't match or, you know, go over their concerns with them.
DN: What if they don't agree with what you tell them? Is there some sort of appeal that they can go through?
RD: We take all of those question and comment forums and they're part of public record and we save all of those. But we just have to come to terms with that no one's going to agree 100% of the time.
DN: Is this an important part of the process for you?
RD: It's definitely an important part of the process. The average voter doesn't have the time to come down and see this entire process. They're relying on hearing it from others. So when we have election observers that are dedicated, they come down, they can see the whole process. They can then go back out in the community and say, oh, no, this is actually how it's done. I've witnessed it. You know, this is a very regimented process. They follow everything to a T. Very boring to watch. But then that way it saves, you know, the average voter that doesn't have time to come in and view the whole process.
DN: We've seen other parts of the country where this is much more contentious. Do you think that this is helping to develop trust in the process in your office?
RD: I think it's different everywhere you go. But I like to think that, yes, you know, we are open. We're not behind a black curtain doing things. We have election observers here all the time when we're processing. You know, we're always being watched. So I think it helps increase the transparency.
DN: Observers are also trained how they can watch people slip their ballots into any one of the two dozen drop boxes around the county.
RD: The state law requires no electioneering within 25 feet of a drop box. So we just ask that they're, you know, they're welcome to observe, but they're staying back. They're not intimidating any potential voter. They're watching the process. They're not getting involved in interfering with the process.
DN: Ballots have gone out in the mail this week. They must be physically returned or postmarked by the end of Election Day to be eligible to be counted.
