Residents press county on election security, ballot chain-of-custody and observation at public comments

Several Washington County residents criticized election processes and urged changes to voter registration, vote-by-mail practices, ballot observation and ballot counting during public comment at the Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 21 meeting.

The comments came during two public-comment periods before a scheduled election office work session; speakers asked the board to consider changes to registration oversight, chain-of-custody for mailed ballots, more meaningful in-person observation of ballot handling, and hand-counting of ballots during audits.

Why it matters: Residents say these issues affect public confidence in election outcomes. County staff had scheduled a separate, in-depth work session on election debriefing later the same day; commenters said that session takes place in a work session format that limits public participation.

What residents said

- Jill Brand, a Washington…