How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (2025)

Yakima County approaches the process of tabulating election results with fastidious precision.

As people raise questions about how elections work, local election officials want everyone to understand how ballots are counted and the efforts that go into making sure election results are accurate like testing equipment, cleaning up voter rolls, and verifying signatures.

Transparency is part of the process. Community members can go to the county courthouse in downtown Yakima to watch the tabulation and testing process.

Matt Brown, chairman of the Yakima County Republicans, said the county elections office is particularly receptive. “I typically just go to them and they're very upfront telling me how it works in the system,” he said, adding, “I would encourage folks at home or other places, if you have questions, reach out to the auditors. They're very helpful.”

Here’s a look at the process, from start to finish:

Accuracy

The Yakima County Elections Office conducts logic and accuracy testing for all equipment every election. To do this, they scan ballots with a known outcome, and then check to make sure the voting system reports that answer. The procedure ensures tabulation hardware and software function properly. The office conducted this test on July 8 for the August primary.

The office also administers random election audits which entail selecting a portion of ballots from a race, counting those by hand and comparing the results with those of the machine.

Ballots are scanned on a rolling basis as they arrive from voters. The computer is able to count scanned ballots quickly, which is why results are released soon after 8 p.m. on Election Day.

ElectionsManager Kathy Fisher recommends people turn in their ballots early in the voting period.

“Then we get the work done sooner, we can reach out to you and fix errors and your vote is in the election night totals,” she said.

The office needs time to catch any issues and reach out accordingly. If the ballot is remedied and returned in time, the person's vote will still count and show up in tallies released after election night.

After each election, the office recounts at least one race by hand.

“I feel so strong about our accuracy rate,” said County Auditor Charles Ross.

A 2021 county commissioner race that went to a recount was off by one ballot — due to human error, not the machine’s fault, Ross said. The final cast votes totaled 37,862.

The equipment used is not connected to a network; it’s standalone, which prevents any form of interference. The Yakima office deploys several sensors to watch for any suspicious activity on the system. The Secretary of State’s office also has Homeland Security staff members watching the statewide system.

Yakima County uses Hart InterCivic Inc. as its election system vendor, and Verify version 2.5 software.

Throughout the election, ballot scanners and voting systems are in locked rooms. Elections staff, in groups of two or more, sign in and out each time the room is opened.

How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (1)

How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (2)

Cleaning up voter roll

As voters move or die, the elections office updates the voter roll.

“It's like this living organism that's reaching out and verifying data all the time,” Ross said.

The county Auditor’s Office maintains the voter roll with the help of the Electronic Registration Information Center. ERIC, a nonprofit member organization, includes 24 states and the District of Columbia with the mission of improving American voter roll accuracy and increasing access to voter registration. Washington state joined ERIC in 2012, when it was founded.

ERIC analyzes voter registration, motor vehicle, change of address and federal death data. Members use these reports to remove ineligible voters from the roll or provide eligible voters registration information. It also helps states investigate potential illegal voting.

“We always say we can't wait until 50 states use ERIC because it really is a powerful database,” said Ross.

As more states join ERIC, more relevant information is made accessible. This is especially helpful when a voter moves across state lines. No national voter registration database exists, so ERIC serves as a unique resource for states to share information and cross reference their data.

In Washington, a voter is placed on “inactive status” if the person’s election mail bounces back without a forwarding address. A voter registration is canceled if it remains inactive for the next two federal general elections.

Voters on inactive status can become active by updating their address, requesting a ballot or seeking a new voter registration.

As of earlier this week, Yakima County has 129,283 voters on active status. So far this year, 2,238 voters have been placed on inactive status.

Sometimes voters receive more than one ballot. This is because the elections office sent the first ballot before a voter moved to a new address. Once the office records the change of address, it will send another ballot to the voter. The previous ballot is deactivated in the system and the new ballot has a sticker indicating it’s the correct one to submit.

A deceased voter might receive a ballot before they die but once their death is entered into the system, the ballot is deactivated.

The Washington Office of the Secretary of State recently invested in a campaign to curb misinformation about voting. They’ve created animated educational videos about voter roll accuracy and the journey of the ballot.

In nine years of serving as auditor, Ross has only encountered one instance of someone voting fraudulently with two ballots, which was addressed in court.

How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (3)

How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (4)

How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (6)

Elections

How we plan to cover the election at the Yakima Herald-Republic

  • Yakima Herald-Republic

Accountability

Yakima County is in regular communication with the Washington State Elections Department and the U.S. Postal Service. Leading up to an election, the county office has daily calls to resolve issues as soon as they arise.

Representatives from each county exchange insights about their procedures at an annual state elections conference.

The entire process is open to public observation. Anyone can come to the Yakima County office and watch what happens behind closed doors. They even offer tours. La Casa Hogar, a Latina education nonprofit organization, brings students regularly to the office.

A lawsuit filed in 2021 argued that Latinx citizens were up to 10 times more likely to have their ballots rejected because of the signature verification process. The plaintiffs sued Yakima, Benton and Chelan counties.

When voters submit their ballots, the elections office compares the signature with all other signatures on record. ERIC helps this process by providing signatures from various government documents.

According to Ross and Fisher, Yakima County had already implemented the major recommendations from the lawsuit. The Yakima County form for rejected signatures was the one prescribed by the court for the other counties to adopt. Yakima County is now doing additional trainings focused on Spanish and Native American names.

But for the last decade, the county reviewed signatures with Spanish surnames meticulously. A bilingual team member with a high level of cultural competency evaluates any flagged signatures from Latino community members.

Since language and cultural barriers can still exist, the Yakima County Democrats advise voters to have their state-issued ID next to them whilst signing their ballot. This ensures that their signatures match and the ballot won’t be flagged.

Lindsey Keesling, chair of the Yakima County Democratic Central Committee, encourages voters to check the https://votewa.gov/ website to track the status of their ballot.

The site will tell you if your ballot has been rejected or challenged. This usually happens when a ballot is missing a signature or the signature does not match previous signatures on file. An individual can “cure” their ballot by filling out a missing or mismatch signature cure form.

“To our county's credit and to the Washington state system’s credit, they really do seem to put in an extraordinary effort to, at the very least, be transparent and give people information quickly,” said Keesling.

Fisher and Ross look to Snohomish, King and Pierce counties to improve their systems. Those counties have more resources like communications and GIS teams. But Ross acknowledges that Yakima County is also used as a reference point in Washington.

“Yakima County Elections is an elections department that is looked at by many, many counties throughout the state on how to successfully operate elections,” said Ross.

Jordan Allyn is a news reporter for the Yakima Herald-Republic. She reports on labor, politics, and the environment. Email jallyn@yakimaherald.com or call 509-577-7664.

How Yakima County counts your ballot and keeps the voter roll up to date (2025)
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