King County Elections briefs committee on pilot offering alternatives to signature verification

King County Elections on Feb. 11 briefed the Government Accountability and Oversight Committee on a pilot that will give voters in the April special election an alternative to signature verification for vote-by-mail ballots.

Julie Wise, the elected King County director of elections, said the pilot—authorized by the state legislature last year and approved by the Washington Secretary of State—will allow voters to choose either the traditional signature on the return envelope or an online verification pathway. Voters who opt for the online path will log into a secure portal provided by vendor Democracy Live, enter name, date of birth and their unique ballot ID from the mailed packet, and then provide a Washington state ID or driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number before attesting to the ballot declaration.

Wise said the portal is optimized for screen readers and that the pilot is intended primarily to expand access for voters with disabilities who may have difficulty producing a consistent signature. She noted that Pierce County is taking a similar approach in April and said King County has worked with the Secretary of State to ensure interoperability and security. The county will also provide voter education materials in English and six non-English languages used by the elections office.

Key timelines cited by Wise: jurisdictions must file ballot measures by Feb. 21 to participate in the April election; ballots for overseas and military voters are scheduled to be mailed March 21; ballots to local voters on April 2; election day April 22; certification May 2. Wise said jurisdictions can opt out of the pilot by Feb. 21; if any participating jurisdiction opts out of the countywide pilot, the elections office would follow the state law’s opt-out provisions and could not proceed with the pilot countywide for that election.

In response to council questions about security, Wise described multiple authentication layers—the voter’s name and birth date, a unique ballot ID printed on the mailed packet, and a state ID/driver’s license or Social Security digits—and noted that Democracy Live has been used in jurisdictions across the country for military and overseas voting and other accessibility tools. She reiterated that the pilot is one of several access options and that voters who do not wish to use the online option can still vote in person at vote centers or use other vote-by-mail processes.

Wise said King County elections will proceed with communications and training for staff and voters and that the office is prepared to operate whether the pilot goes forward or not depending on opt-outs from jurisdictions.