OLYMPIA — Eight Snohomish County residents may have voted twice in the 2016 presidential election and election officials said Friday they will ask the county prosecutor to consider investigating.
They are among 74 cases of potential voter fraud uncovered by the Secretary of State’s Office during a multi-state review of data from the election.
“We are continually vigilant to protect the integrity of the voting rolls and the public’s confidence in elections,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman said in a statement. “We work closely with local elections officials, and when we find credible evidence that illegal voting activity has taken place, we turn it over for further investigation.”
Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Maryland and Delaware shared and analyzed information from their respective voter databases and data on those who cast ballots in the election. In that review, if a person with the same name, age, and birth date showed up on more than one voter roll, additional research would be done to see if it was a coincidence or the same person. That deeper dive entailed such steps as comparing the signature on their voter registration card with the signature on the ballot return envelope.
Of the 74 cases in Washington, 60 involve individuals who appear to have voted in this state and one of the other four states. Another 13 individuals are suspected of casting two ballots in Washington and one person is believed to have cast a ballot using the name of a dead person.
These represent .002 percent of the 3.36 million votes cast in the 2015 general election, according to Wyman’s office.
In Snohomish County, potentially four voters cast ballots in both Washington and Oregon while two others may have voted in this state and Colorado, according to information from the Secretary of State’s Office.
One voter appears to have voted twice in Snohomish County and another looks to have voted in both King and Snohomish counties, according to the information. In Island County, there is potentially one voter who cast ballots in Washington and Colorado.
Materials compiled for each case will be given to the auditors in the counties where the potential fraud occurred for them to share with their county prosecutors, said Erich Ebel, communications director for Wyman.
Snohomish County Auditor Carolyn Weikel said Friday she was aware of the review.
“We’re waiting for them to send us clarification and further information and then we will meet with the prosecutor, possibly next week, to discuss how we want to pursue this,” she said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.
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