South Sound Times

With the election less than two weeks away, Lewis County Chief Deputy Auditor Tom Stanton has been debunking various myths regarding ballots.

“We want everything to go smoothly and we want everyone to trust the election,” Stanton recently told The Daily Chronicle.

The Daily Chronicle reports one of these misconceptions is that ballot drop boxes are only secured with a zip tie. In reality, there is an internal double deadbolt to ensure the safety of the ballots while the zip ties allow election staff to know which staff member last accessed the box.

“It’s a panel lock, so there’s kind of a little circle and the key pops in and then it activates the mechanism inside the box, so it is more secure then having a padlock that someone could just cut,” Stanton said.

Among other election myths are that mail-in ballots in Washington state must be placed in a secrecy envelope to be counted and that a ballot will be disregarded if a mailing envelope has an inaccurate or missing signature and date.