At least eight voters in Okanogan County Fire District 6 received ballots that did not include the race for Position 2 on the district’s board of commissioners, between Darold Brandenburg and Ken Doran.
County Auditor Cari Hall said in a press release issued Tuesday (Oct. 22) the mistake was the result of a technical problem with the state’s new voter registration system.
Officials in the county Elections Department had reviewed most of the voter registrations by early Tuesday afternoon, in an effort to find all affected voters. Given the amount of progress they had made by 1 p.m. Tuesday, Hall said they weren’t likely to find more than one or two more voters who had received the wrong ballots.
The eight affected voters were all contacted on Monday or Tuesday, and they were receiving correct ballots in the mail, Hall said. Fire District 6 had 3,644 registered voters in the most recent general election.
The error only affected a small number of the voters who recently registered or changed their address. These voters had been assigned to the wrong precinct.
“We are working with the state to make sure it never happens again,” Hall said.
The auditor’s office learned of the error on Monday morning, when a voter who didn’t see the Brandenburg-Doran race on the ballot contacted the office.
“We appreciated the voters letting us know,” Hall said.
People who will be voting in elections for the town of Twisp and the Methow Valley School District should all have the correct ballots, the auditor said.
Anyone who believes their ballot is incorrect should contact the county Elections Department at (509) 422-7240.
Completed ballots must be postmarked or placed in election drop boxes by Nov. 5. Drop boxes close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The state upgraded its voter registration system in June to accommodate a new law that allows voters to register or change their address as late as Election Day. Several bugs have been found in the new VoteWA system across the state since it went live.
