Secrecy Flaps Removed from Ballots
Ballots
Voters in Yakima Younty will notice a small change when sealing ballots in their envelopes.
The Yakima County Auditor's Office announced this week it is removing the secrecy flap that covers voters' signatures.
Secrecy flaps were required by state law in 2005, but were made optional after 2010.
Officials say the change will save 20 thousand dollars a year, and speed up ballot processing.
"It eliminates two steps in the processing, so we'll be able to move right from inventorying the incoming ballots, to signature verification," says Yakima County Elections Manager Kathy Fisher.
Fisher says people who are concerned about the privacy of their signature may deliver their ballots to the Yakima County Courthouse in person.