Tuesday's primary is first test for statewide election system
EVERETT — With less than a week until the primary, Washington election officials are assuring voters that a new statewide computer system will keep their ballots safe from interference — both foreign and domestic.
The new $9.5 million system, VoteWa, unified the state’s 39 county voting systems into one database, an update that will both streamline voter registration and protect the state from cyberattacks, officials say.
VoteWa is coming online at a time of ongoing concerns about possible meddling in American elections by enemies overseas.
“As a state, we cannot combat the national cyber threat to our election system with aging technology,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman warned in an open letter to state lawmakers in mid-July expressing support for the new system.
But leaders of some counties have voiced frustration with the new program, including that VoteWa is slower than their previous systems and that voters are getting ballots late, or in some cases never at all.
Earlier this month, King County elections director Julie Wise told state lawmakers it took her office 90 minutes to scan 300 ballots, a much slower pace than usual.
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