- If you have not received your ballot yet, call or visit your County Elections department.
- If you have mailed or dropped into a drop box your ballot, check https://voter.votewa.gov | Ballot Status to make sure your ballot has been 'Accepted'.
- If your ballot has other status (see types below), you may have to contact your County Elections department to 'cure' your ballot either now or during the "Certification" period.
Introduction
There are a number of sites that are offering information on "Same Day Registration" which is really a phenomena in process for at least 21 states. In reality, WA State is pioneering this process in the 2019 Primary. Here are some important links to the process and more information about WA and nationwide "SDR" rollout:
- https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/administrators/same-day-registration.aspx
- http://waocio.force.com/ProjectDetail?id=a06U000000eT6MBIA0
- https://www.sos.wa.gov/office/news-releases.aspx#/news/1364
- http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/same-day-registration.aspx
Ballot Status " Undeliverables" reported only by 10 WA counties
# as of 08.05.2019 matchback
stateBR[ChallengeReason == "Undeliverable",.N,by="County"][order(-N)]
County N
1: Benton 1145
2: Spokane 437
3: Walla Walla 284
4: Franklin 270
5: Okanogan 171
6: Pend Oreille 85
7: Adams 37
8: Clark 28
9: Klickitat 7
10: Ferry 4
Other than "Undeliverable" for the State
# as of 08.05.2019 matchback
stateBR[ChallengeReason != "Undeliverable",.N,by=.(ChallengeReason)][order(-N)]
ChallengeReason N
1: 734086 # not Challenged
2: Signature Does Not Match 3790
3: Unsigned 2937
4: HOLD 953
5: Other than Voter 518
6: Ballot Style Change 343
7: Review 324
8: Deceased 179
9: No Signature on File 99
10: Marked Moved 67
11: Canvassing Board 63
12: ID Required 40
13: Invalid 26
14: Empty Envelope 19
15: Hold 14
16: Witness Signature Missing 8
17: Power of Attorney 8
18: Voter Name Change 6
19: Signed by Someone Else 5
The state is now publishing "Ballot Return Statistics" for the Primary. These numbers are different and represent fuller reporting for turnout than the matchback data, but they do not contain "BallotStatus" or "ChallengeReason" data. After Tuesday, these "Ballot Return Statistics" will probably be frozen and the user will be redirected to "Election Results". As I mentioned before, it appears to me that some counties (like Benton) are reporting "Undeliverable" totals as a "ChallengeReason" . Most counties are not or not yet reporting "Undeliverable" totals as much as Benton. As a reminder, the "Undeliverable" status is (theoretically) a result of a USPS returned ballot that cannot find the intended recipient.
Far below are summed lists of "ChallengeReason" for Benton and all "Rejected" ballots for the entire state as of 08.02.2018 from the matchback data. As a note, some of these challenges appear to have been introduced by the 'VoteWa' upgrade (e.g. "HOLD", "Hold","Review","Marked as Moved", "Ballot Style Change") . Those particular challenges have probably been introduced as part of "Same Day Registration" or the process that now accommodates voter registration right up until election day. That process was an important part of 'VoteWA' upgrade project and reputedly required lots of implementation work.
"ChallengeReason" fields could theoretically be divided into two types: Those that are "curable" and those that are not "curable". "Signature Does Not Match" ,"Unsigned" and "No Signature on File" are 'signature challenges' and should be 'curable' in most cases before the Election period ends on Tuesday and also afterward during the "certification" period. I do not believe "Undeliverable" is curable after the Election Period is over on Tuesday. That is a question for the Auditors and State of WA.
All this discussion begs more than a few questions about "undeliverables". I know from analyzing Whatcom County matchbacks in previous elections that about 2K per election are returned as 'undeliverable'. We have lots of 'mobile' populations: 30K college students in Bellingham, migrant farm workers, high density rentals in both south and north Bellingham, even the 'snow bird' retirees that summer in Bellingham before returning to AZ, CO, CA for the winters. For the most part, I think very few election departments or political parties attempt to do anything about "undeliverables", although I think some coordinate with USPS for forwarding address information. If you don't update your address when you move, a ballot can not find you. Eventually, you will be marked "inactive".
The probability is that even voters that move inside the same county don't realize they were missing a ballot until after the election. Thousands of college students who return home each summer probably don't realize they can change their address to vote in Summer primary in their home counties and then change their address back when they arrive for school again. It might be that Benton county is one of the few counties that is correctly publishing undeliverable statistics.
Recent equipment upgrades that produce scanned, digitized signatures are optimizing the signature checking process for election workers. I believe AI based signature checking may be certified in the future, optimizing signature checking even more. This is great for efficiency, but signatures are a weak and undependable biometric in a nation riddled with neurological disease and strokes, for example. Signatures can and do change for many different reasons. In addition, the 'stampless ballot' and 'hyper energized' partisan politics are both probably increasing volume returns . So these upgrades and enhanced election practices are probably increasing "Rejected" ballot volume. Additionally, "same day registration" ('SDR') is possibly opening up more volume and more procedural questions. Like how are "undeliverables" caught early in election cycle supposed to be "cured", "disposed", or handled? I should note the state has public information the "SDR" flowchart here.
ChallengeReason' for Benton as of 08.05.2019 matchback
stateBR[BallotStatus == "Rejected" & County == "Benton",.N,.(ChallengeReason)][order(-N)]
ChallengeReason N
1: Undeliverable 1145
2: Signature Does Not Match 136
3: Unsigned 106
4: Deceased 22
5: HOLD 13
6: Canvassing Board 8
7: No Signature on File 7
8: Hold 4
9: Invalid 2
10: Review 1
'ChallengeReason' for all matchback reporting counties for WA State as of 08.05.2019 matchback
stateBR[BallotStatus == "Rejected",.N,.(ChallengeReason)][order(-N)]
ChallengeReason N
1: Signature Does Not Match 3787
2: Unsigned 2935
3: Undeliverable 2289
4: HOLD 905
5: Other than Voter 518
6: Ballot Style Change 343
7: Review 324
8: Deceased 179
9: No Signature on File 99
10: Marked Moved 67
11: Canvassing Board 63
12: ID Required 40
13: Invalid 26
14: 21
15: Empty Envelope 19
16: Hold 14
17: Witness Signature Missing 8
18: Power of Attorney 8
19: Voter Name Change 6
20: Signed by Someone Else 5
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