Thurston County, Washington

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Thurston County Washington

Drop boxes are a secure, convenient way for voters to return their ballot

June 1, 2022
  –  
Mary Hall ,  
Auditor
An SUV runs over a drop box but the drop box is not damaged

Drop boxes are a secure, convenient way for voters to return their ballot. 

During the voting period of an election, drop boxes are emptied daily by teams of Thurston Elections staff. Extra pick-ups also happen when boxes get busier. Ballots are securely transported directly to the Thurston County Ballot Processing Center (BPC). 

Once your ballot is in a drop box, it is secure. These boxes are practically indestructible. When an SUV driver rammed one of our ballot drop boxes in August 2019, his car was totaled but the box was undamaged. 

Drop boxes close at 8 p.m. sharp on Election Night. Don’t risk your vote by waiting until the last minute. Get it done early and avoid the last-minute rush. 
 
There will be 29 drop boxes around Thurston County for voters to use during the 2022 August Primary and November General elections. Drop boxes open the day ballots become available.  

Once your ballot is at the BPC, Thurston County Elections processes it securely by following a few steps: 

  • Your signature on the oath return envelope is checked against the signature on file in your voter registration record.  This means only you can vote your ballot. 
     
  • You are credited for voting. This ensures that only one ballot from each voter is counted. 
     
  • The oath return envelope, which identifies you, is separated from the inner security sleeve, which contains your voted ballot. Your ballot cannot be traced back to you. 

  Watch this video for more information on ballot processing. 

We also actively maintain the voter rolls to ensure they are consistently up to date. The Auditor’s Office works with trusted sources including the Office of the Secretary of State, the Social Security Administration, the United State Postal Service National Change of Address Program, the Department of Licensing, the Department of Health, the Department of Corrections, and the Office of the Administrator of the Courts to maintain the accuracy of voter registration data. More information on how the voter rolls are maintained can be found here. 

 

You may be seeing reports about how fake ballots put into ballot boxes by bad actors are tabulated.  This is impossible in Thurston County and Washington State because of the secure nature of not just ballot boxes, but how we use your signature to ensure only one ballot is counted per voter. 

 

Voters turning in ballots for family members, friends, or anyone else is legal in Washington State. Never hand your signed ballot over to anyone you do not trust with your vote.  

 

Our voting system is secure because of a combination of physically secure ballot drop boxes, signature verification, and actively updated voter rolls. 

Elections
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