King County Elections will temporarily relocate its headquarters in a phased move beginning in mid-September so that potential flooding in the Green River valley does not impact upcoming elections and voting services. Elections equipment and staff will move into the vacant County-owned Airport Operations Center at Boeing Field.

Studies conducted by a private engineering consultant and the Army Corps of Engineers indicate that Elections headquarters would be significantly impacted under a worst case flooding scenario related to the abutment damage and needed repairs at Howard Hanson Dam. Efforts are underway to protect the existing King County Elections building and address its flood vulnerability while staff prepares to move operations to Boeing Field.

“We explored every possible option to remain at our current location,” said Elections Director Sherril Huff. “However, given our responsibility for conducting secure elections and our need to protect our people, infrastructure and operations, it would not be prudent to stay in our current location through November and risk potential interruption of the General Election.”

The move to the Airport Operations Center will be complete in early October and will be a temporary location until the existing Elections building is deemed to be safe from future flooding or an alternative long-term location is found.

The Airport Operations Center has been used to support elections operations in the past and still retains some of the security features necessary to support this function. Additional security measures will be put in place as well.

“Initial projections suggested that the Renton Elections facility was on the edge of the area that could be severely impacted by a flood,” said Huff. “But more recent engineering reports and and the ongoing consultation between county offices and the Army Corps of Engineers indicate that moving now would be the most prudent decision. With such a short time frame to respond, we were fortunate that the Boeing Field facility was available to accommodate us in time to settle in and prepare for the November General Election.

The address for the new location is 9010 East Marginal Way South in Tukwila. All e-mail and phone numbers for Election Services and staff will remain the same. The Earlington Business Center building at 919 S.W. Grady Way in Renton will still offer a ballot drop box location, however the accessible voting center will also relocate to the Airport Operations Center.