Whitman County voters should feel confident mailing their ballots in without a stamp despite a warning of “requires first class postage” on the flap of their return envelopes, according to the Auditor’s Office.
Auditor Eunice Coker said Friday her office overlooked the flap warning amid the overhaul of ballot and envelope templates. All other postage information got changed. Repurposed privacy envelopes had the old instructions blacked out and re-typed.
“Right on that flap, we missed that,” she said. “It’s important, but it’s minor.”
Coker said her office has always had a strong relationship with local postal officials to help make sure ballots get delivered and counted — stamped or not. In the past, the county has paid for unstamped ballots sent in error.
“They’re going to deliver that to us,” she said of the local Postal Service. “They really bend over to help us.”
Coker said many county offices had to update language on their envelopes quickly this year after the state shifted to pre-paid postage on all ballots. Asotin and Grant counties have also had issues with incorrect postage information on their ballots this year.
State officials made the change to keep elections consistent after King County decided unilaterally to pay for its voters’ ballots.
“Normally, that kind of stuff would have been more thoroughly checked and caught,” Coker said.
While all postage is paid, Coker noted that Whitman County mail now goes through the Spokane mail processing center. If voting close to the Nov. 6 deadline, she recommended putting your ballot in one of the local drop boxes to ensure it does not get held up in the postmarking process.
Ballots postmarked after Nov. 6 will not be counted.
WSU voter drive update
The Washington Secretary of State’s Office reported earlier this week that the “vast majority” of voters from a recent WSU student voter drive had been processed and confirmed. Coker said her staff spent a few late nights working to add those voters to local rosters and get their ballots sent out.
Coker noted the ballots have been sent to all apparently valid registrations, but those signatures will still have to match with previous IDs when ballots come back. Any questionable ballots will receive a letter for additional confirmation.
“They are allowed to vote them and return them, but they are pending,” she said.
That process applies to all ballots. Coker said she just expects to handle more of those issues this year.
Her office reports more than 25,000 ballots have gone out to voters so far this year. Approximately 3,000 ballots have already come back to the Elections Center.
“(That’s) pretty good for this early in the game,” she said.
Residents can still register in person at the Elections Center in Colfax until 5 p.m. on Oct. 29. Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 6 or put in one of the local drop boxes by 8 p.m. Nov. 6.
See our local Voters Guide for more information.