 Nov. 8, 2005 "Continuous path of improvement" Elections chief praises work of poll workersKing County Elections Director Dean Logan praised the work of the 3,770 poll workers from across King County who reported for duty early this morning and worked into the night to ensure a professional and orderly day at the polls for King County's voters. He also thanked the voters, who came to the polls in strong numbers for this General Election with their identification and prepared to vote. Logan's remarks were shared at a media briefing held at the King County Elections Office shortly after the first results were released. "Our goal was a secure and accountable election, and I believe we have delivered on that promise to the voters," said Logan. "We are committed to conducting a transparent election and moving along a continuous path of improvement. Key to our ability to achieve that goal are poll workers that are efficient, trained and ready. That is what we saw today." A total of 149,601 absentee votes had been counted and were reported in the 8 p.m. results. More than 60,000 ballots were received on Election Day and a similar number are expected to arrive tomorrow as well. The Elections office projects a total of more than 350,000 absentees will be returned by voters. "We are on target with the processing of our absentee ballots," said Logan. "We stressed accuracy over speed and we will conduct our count in that fashion over the coming days." Logan noted the difficulty of the voter registration challenges and the frustration expressed by many voters who had to prepare provisional ballots at the polling places, but again praised the calm and the professionalism of the poll workers and inspectors who helped to troubleshoot the situation and worked to keep the challenged voters engaged in the elections process. Voter turnout was strong, substantially exceeding primary election totals. The original projection for King County was 45.6 percent and Logan said that he expected the final tally would likely meet or slightly exceed that projection. At the briefing Logan also gave an update on the use of the new Internet voters' guide, the first of its kind in the state saying that more than 34,000 King County voters accessed the guide to confirm their voter registration status, find their polling place and learn more about issues on their ballot. King County Elections will continue to provide result reports until an unofficial election night final is complete and then daily except for Sundays and holidays as they move toward the November 29, 2005 certification date. |
Updated: Nov. 8, 2005
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