Start Here
Donate

Actual Vote in Washington

Observe the count

Information current as of June 2026

This page explains how to use the Actual Vote app in Washington for the next election. New to Actual Vote? Start here to learn what it is and why it matters.

Washington votes by mail and counts at county counting centers, where the “proceedings must be open to the public” by statute (RCW 29A.60.170(2)) — you can walk in and watch without credentials or an appointment (King County runs a self-guided “loop” plus 14 public webcams). Results must be made public immediately on completion of the canvass, records of ballots counted must be made public at the end of each processing day, and each county's reconciliation report is published at certification (RCW 29A.60.160(4), .235(2)). Nothing is posted on paper, but the artifacts are on a statutory clock.

Your participation is powerful: you join a nationwide team whose recordings get compared, tape-by-tape, against the officially reported results — an independent check on vote reporting, which is vulnerable to error and fraud. We haven’t published an Actual Vote analysis from Washington yet, but see what a team achieved in the 2024 North Carolina primary. The process is legal and next-to-impossible to abuse for partisan gain: everything on a poll tape is already public.

Get the app How Actual Vote works See an example analysis

This information was compiled using AI-assisted internet research along with some calls to election offices and word-of-mouth tips. It reflects America Counts’s best knowledge of how to access poll tapes in Washington as of June 2026, but it cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate. The best way to be sure about accessing poll tapes in your area is to call your local elections office and ask — see below for ready-to-use scripts.

If your experience or knowledge of poll-tape procedure in Washington is different from what we show here, please contact us and let us know — we update these pages as we learn more.

Your ways to participate in Washington

In order of power — how early in the chain of custody the evidence is, how many tapes one person can capture, and how easy it is.

  1. 1

    Observe the countMost powerful

    Washington counts ballots centrally — observe the count (often with no appointment) and record the tapes or results as they’re processed.

    See a detailed example of how to make a plan to visit polling places on election night based in Broward County, Florida.

  2. 2

    Become a poll worker or observer

    Working the polls or serving as an appointed observer puts you right at the source — the earliest point in the chain of custody, and the clearest view of the count and the tape.

    See more details about Actual Vote for poll workers or observers.

    Sign up to be a poll worker →

  3. 3

    Visit or book an appointment at your county elections office

    Election offices can often provide many precincts’ tapes at once — a great way to cover a whole county on your own schedule.

    Email/phone script — book an appointment at your Washington county elections office
    To: [your county] County elections office
    Re: Appointment to view and record precinct results tapes

    Hello, and thank you for your work. My name is [name]. My friends and I use Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — we video-record poll tapes and compare them to the official results as an independent double-check.

    We’d like to request an appointment to view and video-record the certified precinct results tapes (summary statements) from the [date] election — Election Day, absentee/by-mail, and early voting — for [all precincts / the following precincts: ____]. [Preferred date and window] would work, but we’re flexible and happy to follow any rules your office sets.

    Everything on these tapes is public records under the Washington Public Records Act (Wash. Rev. Code § 42.56.070), and already public, so all we’d need is the tapes and a place to work. Thank you for considering it. — [name], [contact]

    Offices are busiest right before certification — offering a flexible window (and to start with a few precincts) makes a yes easier. See the full worked example for more.

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

  4. 4

    File a public-records request for poll-tape images

    Poll tapes are public records under the Washington Public Records Act. You can request digital copies by precinct and voting method — available in every state, though it captures the tapes later in the chain of custody.

    Public-records request email — Washington counting-center tally reports
    To: [your county] County Auditor's office
    Re: Public data request — [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election] counting-center tally reports, [your county] County

    Dear [County] County Auditor,

    Under the Washington Public Records Act, Wash. Rev. Code § 42.56.070, I'm requesting copies of public election data — specifically the results tapes / batch tally reports produced by the county's ballot-counting-center tabulators, and the certification-time reconciliation report if available. Since Washington votes by mail and counts centrally, I understand there are no precinct-level tapes, so I'm after the counting-center equivalent, meeting the following criteria:

    • From Washington's [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election]
    • From [your county] County's ballot-counting operation
    • For each tabulator batch that produced a printed tally, covering mail ballots and any in-person ballots
    • The tapes/reports showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals, plus the reconciliation report published at certification (RCW 29A.60.235(2)) if available — I don't need the zero or configuration tapes, though including them is fine
    • If for any combination above no ballots were cast (so no tally was printed), simply omit it

    I understand the counting center's proceedings are open to the public by statute (RCW 29A.60.170(2)), so I may also stop by in person to observe — but I'd still like copies of the printed tally records for my analysis.

    Digital scans (emailed or via a download link, in any common format such as .pdf or .jpg) would be ideal; physical copies for pickup or mail are also fine. These are public records, and the totals they show are already in the official published results. They'll be used for legitimate, non-partisan vote-reporting auditing with Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — you can see exactly how it works, and why it's non-partisan, at Start Here.

    If you must redact anything beyond batch/precinct identifier, voting method, and results totals, please go ahead. If you deny any part of this request, please cite the specific exemption and let me know the appeal options under the law. Please also tell me of any fee in advance — I request a fee waiver, as this analysis is in the public interest, contributes to election transparency, and is not for any commercial purpose.

    Because our analysis is most useful before results are certified, I'd be grateful for the data within about a week if possible; if you expect a delay, just let me know when to expect it.

    Thank you for considering this request. — [name], [email/phone]

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

Quick reference: tape access by role in Washington

A companion to the options above. Whatever your role when the polls close — poll worker, appointed watcher, or member of the public — here’s who can see and record the results tape in Washington, and how the state compares nationally.

Vote-by-mail / central count

Vote-by-mail centers; proceedings are open to the public.

Recording: Recording inside the center — verify.
Key authority: RCW 29A.60.170

See how every state compares →

Example Actual Vote Recordings

We don’t have any recordings from Washington yet — you could be the first! Here are some example poll tape videos by Actual Vote users in other states, all taken during scheduled visits to an elections office. America Counts compares the vote totals on each poll tape video to the official results to double-check the accuracy of the vote reporting. See this report from North Carolina in 2022 for an example.

Recordings live in the public Actual Vote Video Archive.

How we know this — and how you can check it

This reflects America Counts’s June 2026 primary-source review of Washington’s election statutes and Secretary of State guidance. We’re finalizing the detailed, fully-cited "how we know this" write-up for Washington. In the meantime, the surest way to confirm what applies at your polling place or elections office is to call them directly. Found something different? Help us verify it.

Find your county's election website

County sites carry polling locations and local contact information. Search "[your county], Washington elections" if a link 404s.

Ready to help?

Join the nationwide team independently double-checking how votes are reported — starting in Washington.

Get the app Make your plan Get involved