King County election officials take safety precautions for upcoming primary election

The primary election in Washington is Tuesday, August 6, but preparations for the big day have been in the works for months.

King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Elections Director Julie Wise held a news conference Wednesday morning to inform voters on what’s being done to make sure the election is as safe, secure, accessible and as transparent as possible. Including, trained partisan and non-partisan observers inside King County Elections headquarters.

“Observers who are now empowered to monitor the selection and processing of ballots knowledgeably,” Constantine said. “From the moment they arrive here at elections headquarters through the process until the results are tallied.”

In the last election, King County Elections was hit with at least one envelope containing a white powder. It turned out to be harmless but steps have been taken to secure the building and a plan is in place to quarantine and evacuate, if necessary.

‘It’s concerning:’ Election offices in 4 counties evacuated due to white powder

Elections leaders are also meeting with law enforcement and have put a plan in place in case the unexpected happens.

“We work more closely with local law enforcement and federal law enforcement than we have ever before and we’re grateful for their partnership,” Wise said. “We’ve held active assailant and de-escalation training, practiced crisis scenarios with table-top exercises and made improvements to the building,”

Running an election and providing for security can be expensive. Elections officials said they have made investments to secure the process, their staff, and voters and they are getting help from their partners.

“We’ve received money, federally, and from the state for security purposes,” Wise said. “We have security on staff now through the end of the year.”

The goal is to make this the most safe, accurate, secure, and accessible election, ever.

“There are new official ballot drop boxes that have been installed at locations out in Sammamish, over in West Seattle and in Seattle’s Central District,” Constantine said. “It’s not possible for someone to vote twice. It’s not possible for someone else to fraudulently vote for you because the verification happens here.”

WA governor’s race: Ferguson leads Reichert by single digits in new governor poll

If you have questions or concerns, King County elections officials said there’s only one place you need to go for answers.

“Come to us with your questions about how the process works,” Wise said. “We here at King County Elections are your source for accurate and reliable election information.”

James Lynch is a reporter at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of James’ stories here. Follow James on X, or email him here.

More politics

• Harris in the race: Biden makes a case for his legacy — and for Harris to continue it — in his Oval Office address
• Conviction: US Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey is resigning following his corruption conviction
• Impact on WA: What Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race means for Washington

Follow @James_KIRORadio