Elections staff report staffing needs and ongoing problems with state voter‑registration system

Shannon (referred to later in the meeting as Shannon Lee), who presented the elections office update, told commissioners that the recent election cycle exposed problems with the state voter‑registration system that affected card mailings and training. "This last year with the state voter registration system has been an absolute nightmare," she said, describing errors that dropped parts of hyphenated names from mailed voter cards and a training environment in which the system failed to function for trainees.

Elections staff outlined budget changes tied to reduced election‑worker costs in the proposed draft, but they also requested funds for additional ballot bags and preparatory costs for November. Shannon explained that for small local contests it is more cost‑effective to hand‑count ballots, but larger November contests and multiple jurisdictions on the ballot (ESDs, CADs, cities, school districts) may increase printing and staffing needs. She said the office budget had been reduced in payroll projections and that she would provide commissioners with a breakdown of cost per election, including primary and runoff expenses.

Commissioners discussed the possibility of compensating an elections official for extra duties while staff training continues; they asked the county to check whether paying an elected official additional compensation for performing election duties would comply with law. No formal change was made at the workshop; commissioners asked staff to include equipment and staffing proposals in the final budget and to return with detailed cost breakdowns.

The court also discussed planning for early‑voting locations and whether to supply equipment for cities and school districts working on redistricting maps; county staff said they had budgeted for extra ballot paper to accommodate potentially larger ballots.