Voters face long General Election ballot; election official expects near-record Cowlitz turnout

County Auditor Carolyn Fundingsland says hostility toward local elections office has waned

Cowlitz County ballots for Nov. 5 general election will start arriving in voters’ mailboxes late next week, and the county’s top elections official is expecting a near-record turnout.

The Cowlitz County Elections Office will mail ballots to nearly 74,000 registered voters on Tuesday, October 15 — three days earlier than required by law and three days sooner than reported in the general election Voters Pamphlet.

Cowlitz County Auditor Carolyn Fundingsland expects turnout to match or exceed the county turnout record — 83.4% — set in 2020.

Voter registrations have been climbing for months, she said, driven by the presidential election and, to a lesser extent, by a lengthy ballot with abundant decisions awaiting voters.

Fundingsland urges voters to return ballots as soon as possible, for two reasons: It makes processing ballots quicker and smoother and, more importantly, leaves lots of time to resolve ballot problems — such as lack of a signature — that can otherwise invalidate a ballot.

“The worst phone call I get is when it’s too late, when a voter calls an hour before the election ends and says, ‘I didn’t get a ballot.’ I want to help, but I can’t work with that,” she said.

She highly recommends that voters sign up on votewa.gov, a state elections website. It gives registered voters personalized information about whether their ballot has been received and accepted, where the nearest ballot drop box is located, a sample ballot, and instructions on how to replace a ballot and other information.

”It’s really a good tool, a one-stop shop” for voting information, Fundingsland said Friday morning.

Endorsements in selected local election races will start appearing Monday, beginning with a race for Cowlitz County commissioner.

Former President Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election led to threats and hostile scrutiny against elections offices nationwide. Her office was targeted often in 2022, Fundingsland said, but hostility and skepticism from local sources have waned considerably.

“2022 was bad for us, but we’re seeing a change. This year has been nothing like 2022. I hope that continues,” she said.

Her office has given multiple tours of how ballots are processed, tracked, verified, secured, monitored and counted. Critics usually go away satisfied, she said.

Building trust “is best done one voter at a time.”

Still, federal agencies almost daily issue intelligence reports about efforts to disrupt balloting, such as the explosion Tuesday at a ballot drop box in Vancouver, Fundingsland said.

Efforts to ensure the integrity and accuracy of elections “never stops for us. We are always looking for new ways to improve. But the bad guys never stop. They continue to threaten us,” Fundingsland said.

Her office recently used an $80,000 state cybersecurity grant to make sure its computers are secure. It also hired a new information technology worker “to make sure our security posture is protected. (Security) is a nonstop effort for us.”

Next year her office plans to mount security cameras at every ballot drop box location, a task that involves a lot of red tape and cooperation with other agencies and companies, she said.

Ballots for the General Election must be returned by 8 p.m. November 5 or be postmarked by that date to count. They can be mailed without postage.

Fundingsland, though, urges voters to use the county ballot drop boxes, which are stoutly made with quarter-inch thick steel. They also are equipped with fire suppression equipment. Ballots are collected every day and undergo less handling than they do if they go through Postal Service delivery, Fundingsland pointed out.

Police conduct extra patrols around the ballot boxes, she aded.

If a ballot box is damaged or compromised, her office would notify the public and ask anyone who voted that day to contact the elections office for a replacement ballot.

This year’s ballot is chock-a-block full. The most prominent race, of course, is the contest for President. Voters also will cast ballots in statewide races for Congress, U.S. senator, Washington governor and other state executive positions, State Supreme Court and state Appeals Court.

In addition, voters will decide on statewide initiatives to kill the state capital gains tax on the wealthy, revoke the state’s Climate Commitment Act, and make it optional for workers to enroll in state’s now-mandatory insurance for long-term care, such as nursing homes.

Voters across Southwest Washington will decide whether to return first-term Skamania County Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez to Congress or replace her with Trump-backed Joe Kent, a Clark County Republican. That race is a rematch of their 2022 cliffhanger.

Voters also will decide three 19th District state legislative races. Three Democrats — Andi Day of Seaview, Terry Carlson of Longview and Mike Coverdale of Westport — are (respectively) trying to upend three Republican incumbents: State Sen. Jeff Wilson of Longview and state Reps. Joel McEntire of Cathlamet and Jim Walsh ofAberdeen. The 19th District covers a six-county area stretching from Longview to Long Beach and then north to Aberdeen.

Cowlitz voters will select two new county commissioners to replace Republicans Dennis Weber and Arne Mortensen, who are stepping down. The outcome will determine whether the three-member board of commissioners shifts even further to the right or becomes more centrist.

Local voters also will weigh in on an advisory ballot about renewing the one-tenth of 1% sales tax ( a penny on a $10 purchase) to support Cowlitz Drug Court, the county jail’s state-mandated drug and mental health treatment program and the sheriff’s behavioral health unit.

Longview voters will decide on a one-tenth of one percent sales tax (a penny on a $10 purchase) to increase police staffing.

And Kelso voters will decide on a sales tax increase of 0.20% (2 cents on a $10 purchase) for1 0 years to pay for street repairs.

Whomever and whatever you support, please make sure you vote.