Callie Gee is joining us tonight and she is running for Spokane County Auditor.

Thanks for joining us, Callie We want to start just letting you introduce yourself to our viewers.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you so much for having me.

My name is Callie Gee, I'm running for Spokane County auditor.

I was born here in Spokane, up north near Mount Spokane.

Raised by a conservative family.

And I then went to Washington State University, where I graduated with accounting and finance and use that degree to get a job here in Spokane at a top six accounting firm where I have been working for the last two years on really complex tax, financial issues and, record keeping.

And so those are the skills that I think I, that make me most uniquely qualified for this role.

I'm really passionate about protecting our elections and making sure that our finances are clear and accurate and timely filed.

The auditor's office obviously oversees election at a time when trust in the electoral process is being questioned by a chunk of our population.

What specific steps would you take to try to really lock down public confidence in our election process here in Spokane County?

It's a great question.

I think that we have one of the most secure election election processes in the state.

We can go back and look at our post-election audits in a recounts and really see how how secure and locked down that system is.

I would invite anyone who has doubts and questions to go and participate in election observing.

I think if anyone is to walk into that office and see the chain of custody and the way that that process runs and the incredible workers, the employees who have been doing this work for decades, it is a very, very secure and accurate system.

And so my approach would be to continue to invest in the systems that we know work well and make them work better.

And so one of the things I want to do is create a bipartisan election advisory board.

A lot of other county auditors, in the state, have committees like this, and I think it'd be a great opportunity to bring in, you know, skeptical voters, people who are disengaged, as well as prominent Republicans and Democrats, independents, also election professionals.

And just get everyone in the room and have a conversation so that we can really identify one where we can make concrete changes that will improve our system and make it more secure.

And number two, which I think is equally as important, is to work on the communication there and making sure that we're explaining in simple terms to Spokane County residents exactly what happens with their ballot.

You know, when it comes back in all of this chain of custody process, I think that we need to really show it in more simple terms and help people understand all of the checks and balances and internal controls that are there to ensure that our that our votes are counted.

What on that note, what do you see as the biggest election security challenge facing Spokane County right now?

Yeah.

Well, you know, as we saw in the primary, there was some disruptions with the fires that happened and with it, natural disasters.

You know, it's it's hard to try to control those things.

But we can do, is invest in, ways to make those ballot boxes more secure as well as, more oversight and, you know, like watching these ballot boxes more.

I also think that we need to invest in, faster ballot processing.

I think that sometimes when it takes weeks in order to get, to get votes counted and to get an answer to folks that it can cause, confusion and, and mistrust.

And so I think that we can invest in faster ballot processing as well as increasing communication about ballot tracking.

You know, it's super cool.

You can you can text, vote to and have to go back and look at the number.

But where you can now get these these notifications where we got your ballot, you know, your ballots been counted.

And if anything goes wrong there with your signature verification or whatnot, that you can go in and make sure that you fix that in a timely manner.

And so, all of these things, I think we need to work on investing in our, in our system, but not, you know, going back to a system of the past, like, in-person or, or precinct based polling.

I think that that would be a mistake, and it would be a very expensive mistake for Spokane.

All right.

You know, your background, your expertise is in accounting, finance, compliance, recordkeeping.

Those are key qualifications.

In the auditor's office.

But is there a specific problem or process in the auditor's office that you see that your accounting experience can help with?

Yeah, absolutely.

One of the things that I have spent my career learning is how to break down really complex financial issues and, and to into ways that my clients can understand and also making really informed, data driven decisions.

And so that's really where my accounting background comes in.

I'm really, used to asking the hard questions, asking, you know, where how do we know that these numbers are right, what kind of controls are in place?

And if something doesn't line up to what we expected, you know, how do we go about reconciling that?

And so I really plan to bring on bring my accounting and finance education and my experience working professionally in the field, to make sure that Spokane County residents can really understand where our tax money is going, how it's being spent, and where it's coming from, where most of that revenue comes from.

And so in my first 100 days, I plan to create an accessible online portal where any resident can can log in and see exactly what's going on with our county finances.

And not in a way where we just publish a 200 page PDF, right?

More in a way with interactive, you know, visual aids that can really help people understand who don't have an accounting degree, you know, help them understand what is really going on with our county finances.

And in a time where we are facing an incredible budget deficit.

I think it's really important that not only residents, but also other elected officials, this can be a resource for, for lots of folks to really understand what's going on with our county finances.

You know, the current, auditor, Vicki Dalton, has been in place for 30 years.

How would you she.

She's done what most people would say is a fine job at this position.

But what would you do differently?

Yeah, I would agree.

I think that Vicki Dalton, has done an incredible job for our community.

I really respect her service and the way that she's kept our elections secure and made sure that people on both sides of the aisle can trust that their vote is counted and that their county tax dollars are being responsibly stewarded.

And I plan to continue building on that.

Some of the things that that I might do different, I think, as a young person and someone who grew up in the age of technology, I think I have a really a great perspective and ability to help us look at what technologies we're using and where we can modernize and, and decrease inefficiencies.

So, for example, the payroll system right now, workday is, is really, is not being integrated as well as a lot of people hoped.

And it's, really affecting a lot of county employees.

You know, people aren't getting paid.

They're getting not paid enough.

And, you know, that's really impacting people's livelihoods.

And so software issues like that, I think we have to get to the bottom of, much quicker than that.

What they're saying right now is that it's going to take five years to get that figured out.

And that's that's unacceptable to me.

You know, we live in in an age where technology should be used as a tool that can help us and not something that hinders us or makes, makes bureaucracy bigger and more and more complicated.

So I, I would definitely, help modernize where we can and also just bring a fresh perspective to the county.

I think, you know, like I said, I really respect wiki service, but, you know, having someone in a position that long, it opens up a lot of opportunities for someone else to come in and have a new perspective and lead the employees who have been doing this work so well for so long and lead them well and support them and give them the tools that they need to do their job well.

And that's what I would that's what I would do, is all of you, I know that you've been outspoken is a big county mileage wise.

You've been out all over the county canvasing neighborhoods, meeting your voters.

What are you hearing from them?

What is their top concern?

Yeah.

It's been really incredible to be able to get out in the community and, and, talk to folks and, you know, educate people about what the county auditor does.

A lot of people haven't heard of it before.

And so it's been really great to get out and really explain to people, how important the auditor is.

It's an independent watchdog for the people.

And so I think that, you know, people I've heard people are really excited that there is someone running who actually has the education and experience that I truly believe should be a prerequisite for this job.

You know, my opponent has has no, education or experience in, professional accounting or finance.

And I think that that's something that we really need and we deserve, as the people of Spokane County.

So people are definitely, really wanting someone with the, the qualifications in this role.

And people are also really concerned about our elections right now.

You know, as we've seen on the federal level, the way that the federal administration is trying to dip their fingers into local elections.

And, has floated the idea of nationalizing elections, completely getting rid of vote by mail, which our Spokane Republican Party actually has rewritten their platform over the past few months and explicitly states they want to completely get rid of our vote by mail and go back to in-person, get count hand counting on Election Day.

And I think that that's really dangerous.

And so to the folks that I've been talking to, people, people trust vote by mail because it is secure.

I'm a numbers girl.

And so whenever I'm trying to make a decision or analyze things, you know, I'm going back and I'm looking at the reports, looking at the data.

And we know we we can see that our vote by mail system, it works.

And people rely on it in a county that's such as rural as Spokane, you know, we've got elderly folks, we've got people, you know, young parents who might not be able to make it, to make it to the polling center.

And so, you know, people are wanting someone in this office who's going to stand up and protect every single person's right to vote.

It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican or an independent.

You know, I like I, you know, I, I alluded to in the beginning, my family is conservative.

I, I'm a blue dot in my family.

And so Republicans are not, you know, not my enemy.

I will work for, absolutely every single person in Spokane County because Republicans are my family.

They're my neighbors.

And I care about making sure that every single, resident Spokane County has confidence that their vote is counted.

Callie you have a lot of professional years ahead of you.

Callie you have a lot of professional years ahead of you.

If you're not elected this cycle, are we going to see you again in politics?

Well, you know, I never set out to be a politician.

I'm an accountant.

And I that's what I will continue to be.

And I hope that the people of Spokane County will see that and elect me to continue being an accountant and continue, to serve this community that I love so much.

And I will always I will always want to serve my community.

I've been, very involved in, community service and, fundraisers, giving back to my community ever since I was, in middle school, very young.

And I will continue to do that.

That won't change.

If I will be a politician in the future, if this, you know, I'm not sure that I can answer that question with, absolute confidence right now, but I definitely want to continue serving my community in any way that I can.

And I really do think that that this is one of the best ways that I can use my education and experience to help people because, you know, as I've been working on the and the tax side of public accounting, I, I've been using my skills and learning a lot.

But what it really comes down to my work is, is helping the wealthy pay less in taxes.

And and that to me is not the most fulfilling job.

I want to help working families.

I want to help, every single person.

And that is not something I can do in my current career that I really feel like I could bring to this, this role as auditor.

All right.

Thank you so much, Callie Gee The Democratic candidate for Spokane County Auditor.