PORTLAND, Ore. — Around the country, election officials are still counting ballots for the November election. But who are these people handling ballots?
KGW set out to VERIFY: How does one become an election ballot counter in Oregon and Washington?
Tim Scott, Multnomah County director of elections, answered that it’s the same way you get any other job with the county — you apply on the county’s website.
But, like many other states, Oregon does limit who can count ballots. Oregon law says that candidates that are on the ballot, along with their relatives, cannot be employed or volunteer as a ballot counter.
Additionally, ballot-counting personnel cannot all be members of the same political party. This is so, in cases where election workers must decipher a voter’s intent, workers are less likely to be biased, according to Scott.
“There's lots of checks and balances in place where we don't allow people to be doing a job where they could change how a vote is counted unless they're with another person,” Scott said. “It's all pretty controlled in terms of what impact one person can have on the process.”
As seen in the Multnomah County video below, much of the process is automated. Election officials ensure ballots are valid by checking the signature on the ballot against the voter's registration signature on file.
If the signature is not a 100% match, it is sent to certified election officials with handwriting forensic experience for further analysis. If the signature does not match or the voter forgot to sign the ballot, they are notified by letter that their vote has been challenged and are given 14 days to provide a matching signature.
Election employees also prepare the ballots for counting, but the actual ballot tabulating is done by a machine secured in an isolated room and not connected to any internet or network.
In Multnomah County, election workers are “on call,” though Scott said some election workers have been working for the county for 40 years.
In Washington, Clark County Election Supervisor Cathie Garber said over 1,000 people reached out prior to the election to offer a helping hand. Due to social distancing measures, Clark County has reduced its election staff by more than half. About 70 people are on the waitlist to be election workers.
In Clark County, certified political observers from the Republican Party, Democratic Party and League of Women Voters also watch the entire ballot-counting process.
Garber said Clark County is well set up for staffing for future elections, though people who are interested can reach out to the election office in December, after the election results are certified.
“I've really noticed a lot of (election workers) say that they never felt like they had such an important job in their whole life,” Garber said. “We have a lot of people that really understand that we are the gatekeepers of democracy.”
Election workers must live in Clark County, be registered to vote and have different political affiliations from one another. They also cannot be a candidate on the ballot.
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