Fall Elections Likely To Cost Additional $25,000 Auditor Seeks Consultant, 2 More Supervisors In Wake Of Possible Ballot Tampering

Recent trouble in the Spokane County Elections Department may cost taxpayers $25,000.

That’s the amount County Auditor Vicky Dalton told county commissioners she needs to ensure this fall’s elections come off in the wake of possible ballot tampering during the 1999 general election.

“The elections will happen. There’s no doubt about that,” Dalton told commissioners Tuesday. “But we’ve run into some unexpected costs.”

Those costs include hiring a consultant to help tabulate the results of the primary and general elections, she said. Dalton also wants to hire two additional workers to help supervise the absentee ballot process, where the trouble occurred last November.

Dalton made the request as her office, sheriff’s detectives and officials from the Washington state secretary of state’s office investigate the strange results Spokane County reported for last fall’s election on Initiative 695.

State officials believe more than 5,000 mail-in and absentee ballots from Spokane precincts may have been altered.

According to Spokane’s official elections report, about one in every five ballots mailed in and processed last November had both the “yes” and “no” options punched for I-695.

The initiative, which passed by a large margin statewide, lowered vehicle license tabs to $30 and required any new tax increase to receive voter approval.

A state official noticed the problem last month and alerted Dalton.

In the wake of the revelation, former county Elections Superintendent Tom Wilbur retired last week rather than accept a demotion.

Wilbur’s departure put the elections office in a bind. According to Dalton, he was the only county employee who knew how to write computer programs to tabulate results.

A private consultant who can write such programs and train county employees to use them will cost more than $16,000 for the two upcoming elections, she said.

“We really don’t have anybody who can do that inhouse,” Dalton said.

Dalton said she also wants to spend $9,000 to hire two additional temporary supervisors to oversee the absentee ballot process during this fall’s elections.

During previous years, including last year, only one person supervised that process, she said. In the meantime, absentee and mail-in voting has more than tripled in Spokane County, Dalton said.

Speculation is the questionable ballots were tampered with while they were being processed or stored in vaults at the county courthouse.

“We really need more supervisory people out there,” she said.

Commissioners approved the $9,000 expenditure but are waiting for Dalton to provide a more detailed accounting of what the consultant will cost before signing off on that request.

Dalton told commissioners she probably has enough money in her current budget to cover both costs.