Dunn calls for increased security for King County ballot boxes

October 29, 2024

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn is calling on King County Elections and the King County Sheriff’s Office to step up security of King County ballot boxes. This comes as the FBI investigates the use of incendiary devises to destroy ballots in ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. 

“With a consequential election just days away, I believe that it would be prudent to take steps to ensure that similar acts of election interference do not occur King County,” Dunn writes in a letter to King County Elections Director Julie Wise and King County Sheriff Patty Cole-Tindall. “Therefore, I respectfully request that King County Elections and the King County Sheriff’s Office work together to take legal and reasonable steps to assure the public that ballot boxes in King County are safe places to cast their vote.”

Dunn’s letter suggests strategies such as increased monitoring by election workers, physical inspection of ballot drop boxes, and adjusting ballot collection times.

“The right to vote is a fundamental to our representative democracy, and it is of critical importance that we not just protect ballot boxes, but that we ensure the public has faith in the tools by which we administer our elections.” Dunn continued. “Even a simple hesitation about putting a voted ballot in a King County ballot box could be the difference in whether that ballot is turned in at all.”

King County is the 12^th largest county in the U.S. and has nearly 1.4 million voters, roughly 28.5% of Washington States 4.9 million active voters.  King County operates 84 Ballot Drop Boxes, that are open 24 hours a day through November 5^th at 8 p.m.