Hood River Commissioners get update on county election process

Election update

Brian Beebe, Hood River County elections director, came to explain a change occurring at the state level to the vote tabulation process for military and overseas voters. Their ballots will now have a code to scan that will allow their ballots to be replicated in a form that will be machine-readable by the election tabulators.

Previously, this process was done by hand, but this system will be more efficient while maintaining the level of accuracy through line-by-line comparison to the original ballot.

This will not change anything on the voter side of the process. Beebe also reiterated the invitation for the public to come during election season to observe the ballot counting process.

“We take great pride in educating voters and allowing observers to come observe our process,” said Beebe. “We invite anybody who would like to come and observe our processes during our elections to come see how Hood River County processes your ballot.”

Other news

• County employees were recognized for the work they did in December, managing severe weather.

• The FEMA map was presented again after the public comment period closed, and the county is now able to respond to those comments.

• The public corner preservation act, which will allow the maintenance of land corners that are helpful for maintaining current land boundaries with the raising of a fee to fund, had its second reading.