Kimsey honored for elections work after October ballot box bombing

For the second time in his 26 years serving as Clark County auditor, Greg Kimsey has been named Auditor of the Year in Washington.

“I was very surprised. I had no reason to expect it at all,” Kimsey said on Monday.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs presented the award to Kimsey during the Washington State Association of County Auditors conference in March.

“The successful 2024 election cycle was a culmination of years and years of hard work and preparation. However, no one could have predicted the events that occurred in October 2024, as we saw multiple ballot drop boxes attacked,” Hobbs said at the conference.

On Oct. 28, 2024, a ballot drop box at the C-Tran Fisher’s Landing Transit Center was heavily damaged by an incendiary device. The resulting fire damaged about 500 ballots, nearly all of which were recovered or replaced. A drop box in Portland was also targeted in what is believed to be a connected attack.

Hobbs said those attacks underscored the dangerous situation both voters and elections staff and officials have faced in recent years.

“In the center of all of this was a county auditor. This county auditor not only was providing on-the-ground response to a frightened community. They were also on the scene retrieving burned and destroyed ballots directly from the targeted ballot drop box,” Hobbs said.

The elections office’s response to the ballot box attack, and the work that came after to ensure the damaged or destroyed ballots were replaced and counted, should go to his staff, Kimsey said.

“It is a great honor. I’m very appreciative of the recognition but truly it’s the work of the people here in the elections office that deserve the credit. Just thinking back on that — on that bombing, people were contacting voters and saying, ‘Hey, we found your ballot and it was charred,’ or ‘It was damaged in this ballot drop box fire. Here’s what you can do to get your ballot counted.’ I talked to some people, but the staff are the ones that did most of the work,” he said.

Kimsey’s seventh term in office expires at the end of 2026. Does he plan to run for an eighth time?

“I haven’t made that decision yet. I have another almost year in order to make that decision,” he said.

Rising star

In addition to Kimsey’s award, Clark County Elections Coordinator Luba Ross was named the Rising Star of the Year by the association. Hobbs said Ross received multiple nominations.

“Within the nominations I received, this individual was described as ‘an absolute rock star with a true passion for election administration,’ and ‘deeply committed to the challenge of ensuring that citizens are confident that election results accurately reflect voters’ collective decisions,’ ” Hobbs said.

Shari Phiel: [email protected]; 360-562-6317; @Shari_Phiel