resolved, the county canvassing board determines how the votes
will be counted. RCW 29A.60.050, .140. Meetings of the county
canvassing board are open public meetings. Notice must be
published, and the board must make any rules available to the
public. RCW 29A.60.140(5); WAC 434-262-025. Where
canvassing boards display a ballot, they cover any marks that could
destroy absolute ballot secrecy. See Const, art. VI, § 6.
Finally, the county auditor must prepare and make publicly
available detailed reports that precisely reconcile the number of
ballots received, counted, and rejected, including specific
accounting for various ballot types (for example, provisional
ballots). RCW 29A.60.235. Public oversight of ballot processing
and tabulation from start to finish, along with public reconciliation
reports, allow a public check on all elections.
White's argument that even greater transparency would promote public
confidence in elections is a matter of policy for the legislature to consider. It is
not supported by the statutes as they are currently written. Allowing observers at
various stages of ballot processing is fundamentally different from allowing every
member of the public to inspect images of every ballot cast. Ballot boxes are not
to be opened nor votes recounted "on mere suspicion and on mere demand."
Quiqlev v. Phelps. 74 Wash. 73, 81, 132 P. 738 (1913). The statutes that
regulate the handling of ballots do not manifest a legislative intent to facilitate
public inspection of voted ballots. They manifest a legislative intent to protect
ballot secrecy by maintaining the integrity of ballot processing and tabulation.
The legislature's intent that Title 29A RCW serve as a comprehensive