MAKING YOUR VOTE COUNT
This email is about the challenged Whatcom County ballots from the Friday 03/14/2020 State Matchback for Whatcom County. As you know, many voters forgot to declare a party in this election which condemns their ballot to rejection unless they ‘cure’ it during the brief post election certification period. Another segment of voters have signature challenges which have very high numbers in WA for this election. Many of you who have been challenged have probably received a letter from the Whatcom County Auditor (Elections department) that will help you cure your ballot. Please do not delay! If you have the time, I recommend walking right into the Whatcom County election office to solve these problems. I suggest you bring your photo ID. The website https://voter.votewa.gov/ will help you check your “Ballot Status” now and after you ‘cure’ your ballot. Please check it. For questions on your ballot, you should call the Whatcom County elections office. Contact numbers can be found here: http://www.whatcomcounty.us/2348/Presidential-Primary As a note, the different challenge groups have very different age curves. The “No Party” challenges skew toward older populations, peaking in the late 60s. All other challenges (including signature challenges) skew much younger, peaking in the teens and early 20s.
The way signature verification works for challenged ballots is tricky. You can fail the second attempt at the verification process. I recommend going in with your ballot and ID. Many signatures aren’t stable or aren’t recognized as stable/authentic by the new scanners. My recent SE.2020 vote has four verification failures even though I just submitted one new sig in person. I recommend going in.
Good Luck,
Ryan M. Ferris
WARMING THE COLD
Thanks to our community Shari was able to give out 7-8 sleeping bags and 4 tents this cold weekend, plus blankets, quilts, and good warm boots that fit! I forgot to ask for YOGA MATS/ CAMPING PADS. Those would be wonderful! My front porch can still be a drop-off point. Thank you! If you didn’t yet contact our city and county government to ask for emergency shelters to be opened, it would still be useful.
Fl!p Breskin
2518 Cherry
flip@columbianeighborhood.org