WA Election Officials Ask For Patience As Ballot Counting Continues

OLYMPIA, WA — Election Day has come and gone, but plenty of ballots are still left to tally across the Evergreen State. While Washington's vote-by-mail system always means a few extra days to verify and count ballots returned later in the voting period, this year, county election workers are dealing with a new challenge.

In a news release, the Secretary of State's office said a temporary issue with the VoteWA election management system affected how fast staffers could manually verify voters' signatures and process ballots to update official totals. According to The Seattle Times, a technical issue meant slow loading times for the state's database of signature images, which administrators consult to verify each voter's signature on their current ballots to previous ones.

State officials said more than 2.4 million ballots were marked accepted by Wednesday evening. Estimates updated Thursday showed closed to 600,000 ballots left to be processed across the state.

"Washington has a lot to be proud about this General Election, and a lot that we can do better," said Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. "My office is responsible for making sure our elections infrastructure meets the needs of voters and election workers in every county. Election Day was a success, despite some challenges. All counties reported timely results and continue to update their counts as ballots are processed. Washington voters have been voting by mail since 2011. We understand that accuracy is important, even if it takes time."

In other election news, Republican Tiffany Smiley conceded the Senate race Thursday to Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, making the incumbent one of the nation's longest-serving senators entering her sixth term. Murray held onto a nearly 13-point lead over Smiley after updated results Thursday evening.

In the Secretary of State's race, nonpartisan Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson conceded to Hobbs Thursday, who will complete the last two years of Kim Wyman's term after the longtime Republican incumbent stepped down to take a role in the Biden administration. Hobbs' victory marks the first time since the 1960s that a Democrat was elected to the state's top elections job.

In Washington's 8th District, Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier secured a third term in Congress, the Associated Press projects, holding a roughly four-point lead on Republican challenger Matt Larkin after Thursday's results. The Issaquah pediatrician was first elected to the seat in 2018, flipping the district blue for the first time since its creation in the 1980s.