In Title 29A RCW, the legislature has gone into great detail to ensure that
the process of collecting, counting, storing, and ultimately destroying ballots
achieves the constitutional mandate for a secret ballot. The only statutory
provision for copying of ballots is found in RCW 29A.60.125. The statute permits
duplication "only if the intent of the voter's marks on the ballot is clear and the
electronic voting equipment might not otherwise properly tally the ballotto reflect
the intent of the voter." Ballots must be duplicated by teams of two people, and
those people must record their actions in writing to create and maintain an audit
trail of the actions they take. RCW 29A.60.125. Original and duplicate ballots
must be sealed in secure storage at all times, "except during duplication,
inspection by the canvassing board, or tabulation." RCW 29A.60.125.
No. 72028-7-1/7
The statutes governing the handling and storage of ballots must be
interpreted in the context provided by the constitutional mandate for ballot
secrecy. In that context, the term "ballot" does not just refer to the physical
document on which the voter's choices are marked. A facsimile, a physical copy,
an electronic record or image file of the physical document on which the voter
places a mark is just as much a "ballot" as the physical document itself. The
statutes do not in any way suggest that the legislature meant to allow electronic
or digital images of ballots to be more available for public inspection and copying
than the original ballots. We interpret the fourfold definition of "ballot" as
reflecting legislative intent to define "ballot" as broadly as possible to fulfill the