The keys to a ballot drop box in Elma were left unattended in the lock and turned in to the Elma Police Department.

It’s unclear how long the keys were left in the lock. The Grays Harbor County auditor says the ballots inside were not compromised. “The seal was never broken so the ballots were secure inside,” Auditor Chris Thomas said.

The keys were left at the drop box between 3 and 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26.

Chief Dan Prater of Fire District 5 said a member of one of his crews saw the keys in the drop box and pulled them out.

Elma Police Chief Susan Shultz said the keys were given to her about 9:45 a.m. Saturday. She said they checked the ballot box and did not see signs of tampering.

About 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 29, the Auditor’s Office was notified that the keys were at the Elma police station and “immediately” went to get them and started making changes to “make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Thomas said.

“We talked to staff and immediately had them write up a report about what happened. We have teams of two (that check the drop box). … We discussed with them what happened and preventing it. We inspected the ballots and there was no problem. The seal was never broken,” Thomas said.

The Auditor’s Office maintains numbered seals, similar to zip ties, on the Elma drop box. On Monday morning, to check for tampering, workers verified that the numbered seal matched the seal placed on the box Friday. And since it’s impossible to remove ballots from the box without breaking that seal, the Auditor’s Office confirmed that the ballots had not been tampered with.

Thomas, a Democrat, was appointed about a year ago. He is being challenged by Republican Joe MacLean, an election specialist with the state Secretary of State’s Office.

Supervision of elections has been a campaign issue, with MacLean touting his certification and experience and pointing to Thomas’ lack of experience with elections.

The ballot box situation first came to notice after a social media post on Friday, Nov. 2. The facebook page backing MacLean’s campaign posted “Just received confirmation that the keys to access ballots in the Elma Dropbox were found in the lock for an undetermined amount of time. We need to make sure that our Elections are secure.” and “Don’t worry about the ZIP TIES, Worry about the KEY’S that were returned to the Elma Police Department.”

Thomas says the Auditor’s Office already has enacted some changes and is looking at more to make sure the incident isn’t repeated.

“Moving forward, we are looking at instituting a check list, having all the keys on one key (ring) and making sure they don’t rush it,” he said.

“It’s something we take very seriously and are making changes to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

He also said that anybody with questions about whether their ballot was received at the Auditor’s Office can check the status of their ballot on the state Secretary of State’s My Vote website (https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/myvote/#/login).