Richard Sprague

How King County Determines Voter Intent

A team of people in the elections office goes through ballots to determine "voter intent" in close races. [see Sharkansky]. But the decisions can be very arbitrary, and in my opinion directly manipulable if those doing the counting are biased. What do you think the intent was on each of these ballots?:
Close-up of a hand marking Initiative 912 ballot, with a green pen beside the NO option


Close-up of a King County ballot showing a circled oval and crossed-out choice for county executive
(note: the green and red marks are from the elections official determining the intent)

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