County election officials plan to add three ballot drop boxes to the Pullman area amid an ongoing lawsuit against the state seeking reimbursements for the costs of installing drop boxes under a 2017 mandate.
Whitman County Auditor Sandy Jamison said she has ordered the secure drop boxes from a manufacturer in western Washington, but is not sure when they will arrive or how quickly they might be installed.
“I put in my order,” she said, “but so has everyone else in the whole nation.”
Jamison said she did not expect to finalize the new drop box locations until she receives the them, though she anticipates installing them somewhere in Pullman due to the high demand for ballot return capacity.
The county currently maintains two drop boxes in Pullman, one outside the Compton Union Building on campus and one along the 200 block of SE Paradise Street in downtown. A third drop box sits behind the Elections Center in Colfax. Ballots can also be mailed for free.
Find more information on local elections and voting here.
Jamison priced new drop boxes at about $6,000 each in a recent lawsuit declaration. She told Whitman County Watch she had used money from her reserve funds to order the additional boxes.
“I think those [additional boxes] are needed,” she said. “I’m dedicated to our voters having access to drop boxes.”
Whitman County is one of three counties involved in an ongoing lawsuit against the state over its alleged failure to reimburse local governments for the costs of installing ballot drop boxes under a 2017 law. The mandate requires election officials to install at least one drop box per 15,000 voters and at least one box in each town with a post office.
Jamison said the state mandate, which passed before she took office, would require purchasing, installing and maintaining another 14 ballot drop boxes at a cost of more than $126,000.
“I don’t have the funding to put in 14 new boxes,” she said, adding, “I would do my best to honor the law if I had the money.”
The nonprofit Washington State Association of Counties first filed the lawsuit complaint on behalf of several counties in December 2019, calling the state’s requirements an “unfunded mandate” and seeking reimbursements from the state to cover the costs of the boxes.
“Counties … continue to bear the expense of procuring, installing, maintaining, and operating the required ballot drop boxes,” a recent court filing states. “[Meanwhile], the State has either rejected counties’ reimbursement requests or partially paid counties through a limited grant program only available to certain rural counties.”
The Lewiston Tribune also wrote about the local unfunded mandate concerns regarding drop box costs in June 2019 prior to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states county officials strongly support expanded access to ballot boxes and cite a Washington Secretary of State report that found 45 percent of ballots in the 2018 General Election were returned via drop box.
“These boxes offer the public greater access to the amenity of an easy voting method near their homes, work, or commercial areas,” the filing states. “This has resulted in a measurable benefit to the public of increased access to a convenient method of voting, which quantifiable data suggests has already increased voter turnout.”
The state, represented by the state Attorney General’s Office, argues the state has met its obligations for providing funding and denying the 2017 requirements qualify as an unfunded mandate.
“The state denies that plaintiffs are entitled to the requested relief, or any relief,” the state’s answer states. “Except as expressly admitted above, the state denies any and all remaining allegations in the complaint. … Plaintiffs’ damages, if any, were the result of intervening or superseding events, factors, occurrences, or conditions which were not reasonably foreseeable and for which the State is not liable.”
Jamison submitted a nine-page declaration outlining the local impacts and expenses of purchasing and maintaining an additional 14 drop boxes. She estimated each box costs about $1,400 a year to maintain.
Her declaration notes election staff must visit boxes to open them at the beginning of each election period. They must check them to ensure they do not get overfull. Two staffers must be present to empty and seal each box, sometimes multiple times each election period, and they must be locked when not in use.
She estimated the upfront training of additional temporary elections staff at a cost of $85,000 and staff would have to drive a minimum of 876 miles a year to repeatedly open, empty and lock ballot drop boxes.
“If my current election staff were assigned to empty the ballot boxes, they would have to do so during overtime,” she wrote. “If they did so during their regular work hours, that would completely stop the ballot processing they would otherwise be doing, which in turn would slow down our ability to post election results for the public.”
Jamison said she would like to install additional drop boxes and hopes the lawsuit will result in state funding to expand those operations. If the lawsuit ends in partial or no additional state reimbursements, she said she will try to phase in additional drop boxes in small towns as she can afford them.
The lawsuit is scheduled for a hearing regarding a potential decision on Oct. 2.
In the years since the drop box mandate, state officials have approved free prepaid postage for returning ballots. Jamison encouraged local voters to return their ballots by mail, emphasizing the local postal system is secure and has not seen any significant delays.
Mailed ballots often make it to her office before drop boxes are collected and can be processed earlier, she noted. Though voters returning ballots in the final days before the election should be mindful of pickup times to avoid the risk of a late postmark.
Voters can check the status of their registrations and returned ballots online at the VoteWA portal.
Read more about some of the recent challenges with local elections and how to make sure your vote is counted here.
Correction: The required rate of registered voters per drop box was previously incorrect.
Just the other day, someone had written a letter to the Daily News asking why there weren’t drop boxes in other parts of the county. I would much rather see them put elsewhere. Rosalia? St Johns? Tekoa? Uniontown?