County Election Auditor Battles Ongoing Accusations Of Voting Fraud
Listen
NWPB’s Dori Luzzo Gilmour reports on one election official who continues to battle false accusations of voter fraud in the 2020 elections / Runtime – 58 seconds
Read
For 12 years Brenda Chilton has served as the elected county auditor in charge of elections in Benton County Washington. . There are continued accusations from within the county by other elected officials that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Chilton wants voters to know that elections are secure.
Chilton had worked for eleven years at the county office before being appointed as Auditor in 2010. She assures that voting is secure.
“I have every confidence that the elections in Benton County were accurate in the 2020 elections,” she said,
Chilton encourages people to come in and observe. The law requires that the election be an open public process. The auditor is looking to make being an observer a paid position. People can also watch via web cam. One part of the past election continues to be questioned, however.
“Most important aspect of our tabulation system, and I don’t think people completely understand this, is that it is air gapped,” she said. “That means that it is not connected in any way to the internet. Nobody has access to it except elections personnel. And so there is no way someone can change the results of an election.”
The tabulated numbers are uploaded via a jump drive. And in Washington state, each of the 39-election officials is making sure that elections are secure.
Related Stories:
NWPB elections survey: Your questions answered
A ballot from the March 2024 primary election in Washington state. (Credit: Johanna Bejarano / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 7:53) Read In preparation for the general election this November, Northwest Public
Are ballot rejection rates going up in Mason County? Data says no.
A few months from now, people across Washington state will vote in this year’s general election. Most will vote by mail, with the ballot mailed to them from their county auditor.
Voters will fill out their ballots, sign the envelopes and drop them off in a ballot box or send them in the post, where a team of election workers will accept those ballots and send them over to a machine to be counted.
Will the real Bob Ferguson please stand up? Name doppelgangers rattle WA governor’s race
By: Jeanie Lindsay, Northwest News Network The governor’s race in Washington is back to “Bob-ness” as usual, after two candidates named Bob Ferguson withdrew their names from consideration Monday. The
