As elections near, Spokane sees growing interest in ballot systems

Certified election observers from political parties are not new. But the appearance of self-deputized election watchers seems to be a growing trend.

That includes Spokane County, where local Republican politicians have called for audits of the previous election and activists are training citizens to become ballot box observers.

"There's a lot of scrutiny and distrust," says Nate Sanford, a staff reporter at The Inlander in Spokane.

In a recent story, Sanford explained that the Spokane County Election Office is receiving a deluge of public record requests, along with growing local interest in ballot box surveillance ahead of the 2022 election season.

"A lot of them are requesting every single record relating to the 2020 election -- that's thousands and thousands of pages of data and documents," Sanford said.

Sanford reported that more locals are interested in election processes, including the routine "logic and accuracy test" for election equipment, a technical system that tests ballot scanning machinery.

Listen to Soundside's full conversation on election monitoring in Spokane by clicking the audio above.