Watch us in action

When mail is delivered to King County Elections, staff sort and identify contents of the mail here, in the mail processing room.

Examples of incoming mail include voter registration forms, signature update forms, confirmation cards, and undeliverable ballots.

Voted Ballots are not processed on this floor. Teams of two transport all ballots, as well as signature challenge forms, to our secure ballot processing floor.

Mail is processed at select times on most business days. If there is no livestream or no activity in the mail processing area, check back again at another time or day.

When ballots are delivered to King County Elections, the signature on each envelope is scanned by our mail sorting machines and sent electronically to the signature verification team. Once the signatures have been reviewed and accepted, we prepare envelopes for the opening process by cutting the top of the envelope for easier ballot extraction. Ballots with signature issues are held in secure storage and cannot move forward until the signature is verified. This is the first stage of ballot accountability.

Sorting does not happen every day, or at all hours. If there is no live stream or no activity in the ballot sorting area, please check back again at another time or day.

Ballots returned by email or fax from service and overseas voters, as well as any ballots returned in something other than the King County Elections issued return envelope, require special handling.

These ballots are compiled and reviewed by a specially trained team to ensure voter privacy and authenticity. Processing these ballots often requires additional time as the process is more manual.

Alternate Format does not happen every day, or at all hours. If there is no live stream or no activity in the alternate format area, please check back again at another time or day.

Before any ballot is counted, the law requires that we visually compare the signature on every returned ballot envelope with the voter’s signature on file. Trained specialists look for general similarities such as height and spacing of letters or slants. If the signatures match, the ballot packet is approved to move forward to opening. If the signatures do not match or a signature is missing, the ballot packet is flagged and sent for further review.

Signature verification does not happen every day, or at all hours. If there is no live stream or no activity in the signature verification area, please check back again at another time or day.

Envelope review is the second step of the signature verification process. When a ballot packet is flagged for a mismatching signature, it gets another look at Envelope Review.

This team conducts additional research on the signature and the voter to ensure that before a ballot is challenged or accepted, there is evidence to support that determination.

Approximately one to two percent of ballots returned in each election have a problem with the signature, which is referred to as a “challenge.” This requires the voter to resolve the issue before their ballot may be processed. The majority of challenges are simply because the voter did not sign the envelope. Many signatures on the envelope do not match what is on file. While there are many reasons this could happen, common reasons include the length of time since the voter first registered to vote or a voter initialing instead of signing. We contact voters by letter, email and phone with instructions on how to resolve the issue and they have until the day before the election is certified to respond.

Envelope Review does not happen every day, or at all hours. If there is no live stream or no activity in the envelope review area, please check back again at another time or day.