A photoessay of "Voter Intent Ballots"Stefan Sharkansky, November 11, 2005 This page explains the photographs that follow. To go directly to the first page of photographs, click here To return to the blog entry, click here The photographs are of ballots from the November 2005 general election where the King County Canvassing Board "interpreted voter intent" in the meeting of November 10, 2005. State law on interpreting voter marks (WAC 434-261-075) says that if the voter's corrections are not consistent with instructions, then the vote cannot be accepted unless either the voter "provides written instructions directing how the vote should be counted or has clearly attempted to erase a mark", or there is a "discernable and consistent pattern" where the voter's intent is clear. The only instructions I can find for correcting a ballot are given on the sample ballot.
As you'll see in the following photographs, the canvassing board simply made a bunch of haphazard and inconsistent guesses, without the guidance of voter instructions, and in the absence of and/or inconsistent with the voter's pattern of marks. Regarding the markings on the ballots in the photographs: The red markings are assumed to be from the election staff The green circles and notes were written by Dean Logan at the canvassing board meeting. A single circle around a candidate or YES/NO in an initiative contest indicates the board's decision to count a vote for that selection. Two or more green circles indicate an overvote, which means that no vote is counted in that contest. All other marks are assumed to have been made by the voter. Click on any photograph to see the entire original photograph. 1 of 6 Next>> |