In history, we have seen minorities struggle to get the right to vote and have their voice be heard. As Washington State local elections are coming up, all eligible EvCC students should vote. Students are just as important as anyone else; every vote counts.

Younger generations may not find politics interesting. There is a misconception that to understand politics, hours need to be spent reading propositions or watching debates. But elections affect everyone, even in the slightest ways.

All initiatives on the ballot are important; they have the power to impact and shape counties as a whole. Initiatives let the public know what people are concerned within their area as well as what people are passionate about.

“Your voice is powerful – voting is powerful. Your voice is an amplifier” says Dennis Skarr, computer information systems instructor at EvCC and security analyst for the Air National Guard.

Keeping Votes Safe

With voting fraud being a sensitive topic that has been in the news during recent elections, securing Washington’s voting systems to make sure that every vote is accounted for is important to Washington State Secretary of State, Kim Wyman.

Wyman requested the help of Skarr and his National Guard team to secure Washington election voting systems. To be able to try to hack the system you need to understand it in the first place. Skarr and his team spent two weeks trying to replicate voter fraud on the Washington State voting website.

If, for some reason, the online methods are considered insecure there is a paper trail with ballots that make it so the state can go back to a complete paper audit that can prove the legitimacy of every vote.

Registering to Vote

Online and mail-in registration closed on Oct. 8, but in-person registration is open until Monday, Oct. 29. 

For further details, visit www.sos.wa.gov, the secretary of state’s website dedicated to voting. The site provides all the information needed such as important dates, locations, and voting results.

Voting Options

There are two options for voting: by mail or in person. On Oct. 19, ballots were mailed out. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6. Accessible voting units will be available at voting centers.

Returning a completed ballot is easy; the postage is paid so it doesn’t even cost a stamp, and there are ballot drop boxes as well. “In Washington state we have it incredibly easy to vote it doesn’t get any easier than this, finding out what’s on the ballot is a Google search away,” said Skarr.

The latest you can turn in a completed ballot at a ballot drop box is 8 p.m. on Election Day. If you’re mailing your ballot, it must be postmarked no later than Election Day.

On Election Day, you can see the votes for each county as they are being tallied at https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/current/.