State's new 'VoteWA' system includes voter precinct review

Sandy Jamison, Whitman County auditor for almost 10 months, and staff are currently implementing the new state-wide VoteWA voter registration system.

"This is new in 2019 and has been very challenging for our staff. The purpose of this new system is to integrate all 39 Washington state county software platforms into one unified voter registration and tabulation system. While there have been and still are kinks to work out, I feel optimistic that the ultimate goal of adhering to one state-wide voter registration system will be achieved," she noted.

November marks the first general election in Whitman County that is being conducted using the new VoteWA system.

The new system directs attention to previous precinct boundary errors and they have made corrections throughout the county and expect more corrections in the future.

Researching and verifying each precinct boundary line for more than 125 precincts in Whitman County is an ongoing process.

Jamison explained they receive copies of drivers license renewals from the Department of Transportation and check current addresses of the license holders against listings on the voter rolls. If the comparison shows the voter has moved, they make a change in the rolls. After the change they have to assign the voter to the right precincts. The county now has 25,225 registered voters.

Jamison said approximately 100 voters in Pullman have already been changed in advance for the general election.

Precinct locations are critical because city and school board positions are often tied to designated districts which contain listed precincts.

The auditor's staff has to insure that a ballot going to a voter in a particular district includes the candidates for offices which represent the precinct in which the voter resides.

Jamison noted under the new state system, a voter's prior address is automatically dropped from the rolls when the state is notified of the voters new address.

More work on the precinct assignments is expected after the 2020 census.

One anticipated change will be a redo of the county commissioner districts in Pullman which has sustained most of the county's population growth.

Precincts will have to be assigned to balance out the population of the county with the three districts again expected to split up the precinct assignments in Pullman.