The Washington Constitution requires the legislature to provide for a
method of voting that will "secure to every elector absolute secrecy in preparing
and depositing his ballot."
Ballot
All elections shall be by ballot. The legislature shall provide
for such method of voting as will secure to every elector absolute
secrecy in preparing and depositing his ballot.
Wash. Const, art. 6, § 6.
The constitutional mandate for a secret ballot is implemented by statutes
codified in Title 29A RCW. For example, all ballots, when received in their return
envelopes, "must be placed in secure locations from the time of delivery to the
county auditor until their subsequent opening. After opening the return
envelopes, the county canvassing board shall place all of the ballots in secure
storage until processing." RCW 29A.40.110(2). Immediately after tabulation, i.e.
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counting, all ballots must be sealed in containers from which they may be
removed only in narrowly specified circumstances. RCW 29A.60.110.
The record contains declarations by county employees explaining how
ballots are processed. After signatures and postmarks are verified and the
ballots have been removed and separated from the envelopes, ballots are
manually inspected for damage, write-in votes, and incorrect or incomplete
marks. Damaged and write-in ballots may be duplicated at this point "only ifthe
intent of the voter's marks on the ballot is clear and the electronic voting
equipment might not otherwise properly tally the ballot to reflect the intent of the
voter." RCW29A.60.125.
Digital images of all ballots do exist for a short time when ballots are