Oregon Public Broadcasting

It’s been four years since Washington’s governor’s race was decided by a mere 133-votes – after two recounts and a trial over the election results.

Most of the problems in that election happened in heavily Democratic King County – the state’s most populous. Ballots were lost and found. Dead people and felons voted.

Today, the rematch between Chris Gregoire and Dino Rossi is once again too close to call. But as correspondent Austin Jenkins reports, King County Elections has been overhauled. And even Republicans are impressed.

In 2004, King County Elections was spread over three facilities. Today, the operation is housed under one roof in a warehouse in Renton, Washington South of Seattle. It’s about the size of a Wal Mart.

Locked and alarmed ballot cage at King County’s new election headquarters in Renton, WA.

Megan Coppersmith: “And since I can flash my badge he’s not going to shoot you or anything.”

Megan Coppersmith with King County Elections takes me past a security checkpoint manned by an armed sheriff’s deputy. Inside this sprawling room is where ballots are processed.

The room is designed like a giant fishbowl with windows instead of walls so the public and political party observers can monitor what goes on.

Coppersmith says the county brought in election and casino security experts to design the place. As a result, there are 59 video cameras, doors that require fingerprint authorization to open, and there are no false ceilings.

Megan Coppersmith: “There were some concerns with locations that we processed ballots before – there was a drop ceiling, like oh could ballots be hidden in there, so when we create this building, there is no ceiling. It is an open and transparent facility that kind of really highlights our open and transparent process.”

Since 2004, King County has been on a mission to not only improve its elections operation but restore its image and win back voter trust. Elections Director Sherril Huff notes her agency had problems before but 2004 was the low water mark.

Sherril Huff: “What 2004 did for us was galvanize attention on what needed to be changed.”

Besides consolidating operations, King County Elections has implemented more than 300 recommended changes.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican up for re-election, says he’s confident King County – home to one-third of the state’s voters – can pull off a clean election this time around.

Sam Reed: “I must say that I was impressed with just how well they have reformed their process, how conscientious they are about every detail, how conscious they are about security almost to the extreme.”

Reed’s only disappointment is the county didn’t have time to install new, faster ballot counting equipment. That may disappoint voters too.

The result is King County only expects to count about a quarter of the returned absentee ballots on Election Day.

King County results will continue to roll in for several days after the election.

Despite the expected delays, Washington State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser says after touring the facility he believes it’s a much better system than in 2004. But he does have some concerns.

Recently Esser’s staff compared the King County voter database to the new statewide voter database.

Luke Esser: “Last Friday we gave a list of slightly more than a thousand King County voter registrations that didn’t seem to be quite right, they still have problems with duplications.”

In other words some voters appeared to be registered twice. King County Election officials say the Republicans were looking at out-of-date databases. But they’re double-checking the rolls.

Back at the ballot counting facility, an alarm suddenly sounds.

It turns out it’s the alarm for the locked cages where the ballots are stored at night. An employee accidentally set it off. A reminder of the new layers of security.

Of course the real test for King County elections will come on Election Day and in the ensuing days. Once again their work will be under intense scrutiny if the governor’s race or any other race is as super-close as it was last time.