Carolyn Weikel - County Auditor

The Snohomish County Auditor is responsible for much more than voter registration and elections. Carolyn Weikel was the guest speaker this past Friday. The primary responsibility includes a broad range of duties involving specific statutory functions and county financial administration. The three primary services provided by the County Auditor are:

Elections and Voter Registration includes: Voter registration; Election Information about Candidates and Districts. The county auditor is responsible for certifying each election. The county maintains a file of all signatures which are cross-checked each time we vote. County Auditor employees are trained on signature verification by the Washington State Patrol. Election turn out is between 28% and 41%. There are four elections per year. Licensing and Animal Control Services includes: Motor Vehicle & Vessel licensing; Animal control services, pet licensing and Business licensing.The County Auditor acts as an agent for the State Department of Licensing. The state provides all of the work product and supplies while the County provides the staffing. Plus, the County Auditor monitors and regulates the supervision of all licensing sub-agencies throughout the County which amounts to 18 locations with a 185 employees. Convenience fees at those help support the cost of the staff for these local agencies. Recording: Recording documents; recorded document search and marriage licensing. According to Carolyn, recording keeping is a fascinating part of her business which is the official bureau for all land transactions. Standards have to be met for the transaction to be recorded. Her office maintains a record of all liens on property transactions. There were 234,792 documents recorded last year with a fee of $63.00 for the first page of the recording. Over 4,500 marriage licenses were filed for last year.