In preparation of the Aug. 6 primary election, Thurston County opened its new voter services center on Tuesday, July 16, at 2915 29th Ave. SW, Tumwater.
Residents can register to vote, receive replacement ballots and use accessible voting devices at the site. The services were previously offered in an office on Evergreen Park Drive before the new location opened.
The new office is directly across from the county’s ballot processing center, completing Auditor Mary Hall’s goal to move all of the necessary voting services in one centralized location. Thurston County also plans to break ground on a brand new ballot processing center in December.
Hall said the $1.6 million voter services center has been in the works since the dawn of the decade as the county purchased the building in 2021. She added that the design process took several months to complete, and the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. provided insight on the security measures the county should take so voters and staff feel protected, including a safe room and bullet-resistant windows.
The biggest upgrade for the county with the introduction of the new office is space. Residents can access the main lobby to vote, register or request other voter services in the customer service area. One room over, there is a covered area with voting booths that Hall said can handle a large volume of people.
“You really need space to run a very secure operation. When you have everything so tight, it’s easier to lose things, and there was a county in the 2004 gubernatorial election that actually found ballots after the first count that were valid and there was no chain of custody issue. That’s what really flipped the governor’s race in 2004,” Hall said. “During the presidential election, when we expect volumes of people and lines on election day, we have a big open area that will house a lot of people to vote and they won’t have to stand outside in the cold.”
Hall described the Aug. 6 primary election as a “test run” for the voter services center ahead of the general election. While the county believes everything is set up as desired, officials will use Tuesday’s election to learn what adjustments need to be made ahead of November’s election.
“We are a continuous process improvement team. That’s what you do in elections, and my staff does it incredibly well. We’ll have to evaluate when the election is over, but this space is set up very well,” she said. “We’re very pleased with how it came out.”
Across the street, residents can take a public tour of the ballot processing center and witness the life of a ballot from collection to scanning to tabulation. The county also streams its ballot processing live on YouTube using security cameras in hopes of proving to voters that nothing happens behind closed doors. Within the ballot processing center, the county has ballot scanners that do not connect to a modem or WiFi network, and the machines are locked away when not in use. When they are in use, they can only be accessed by two election staffers. The county also conducts several audits and tests to ensure that scanners and tabulators are working efficiently.
“I think what really is eye-opening for voters and the public is when they tour our ballot processing center and see all the checks and balances that we have for ballots,” Hall said. “Nothing is done behind closed doors. This is a big, open warehouse space where people sit right next to each other. Even our storage area is fenced, so you can see everything. I really encourage people to come through and tour the facility.”
The next step after the primary and general elections are complete is to break ground on the new ballot processing center, which will remain in the same facility, in December. Hall called the project a “substantial” expansion from its current state.
“We’ve been in the same footprint since the 1980s, and we’ve expanded a little bit, but it’s way too small for the growth Thurston County has experienced,” she said. “We really need to expand it out so we have more space for ballot inspection. Every seat is full in a presidential election, and we really need to be able to get through the day’s work in a day. Most of our ballots come in on election day and after, so that’s where we get bottlenecked. We’ll put a lot of security enhancements in the building, as well as an area for the observers to watch the process that gives them full access but doesn’t block the way for staff.”
While the voter services campus in Tumwater is a little bit of a drive for south and southeast Thurston County residents, Hall encourages residents to utilize the buildings to get a first-hand look at the security of the election. She added that residents can also use voter services at local libraries, including the Yelm Timberland Library, if Tumwater is too far of a commute.
To learn more about Thurston County’s voter services, visit https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/departments/auditor/elections.
