ELECTION 2026: Ballot drop boxes with National Guard protection include at least one in West Seattle

(WSB file photo of Junction drop box)

You might have heard that Governor Ferguson mobilized National Guard members to keep watch on ballot drop boxes in counties that accepted the security assistance – in plain clothes, unarmed, not interacting with voters, just watching the boxes – primarily overnight – to guard against tampering. We now know the West Seattle Junction ballot drop box is among those with the extra security: Around midnight on Seattle Police radio, a dispatcher sent officers to the box vicinity after a report attributed to a National Guardsman that someone was behaving suspiciously nearby. Officers got there and reported the suspicious person was gone. We asked KC Elections about the deployment; KCE spokesperson Halei Watkins told WSB, “It sounds like the National Guard coverage worked just as it should – they saw something suspicious and reported it to law enforcement. The National Guard is out keeping eyes and ears on nearly all of our drop boxes. King County Elections provided the list of drop boxes to keep an eye on to the National Guard.” Ours is one of at least seven that accepted the governor’s offer.

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