GOLDENDALE — Changes in U.S. postal operations cost 91 Klickitat County citizens their vote in the Nov. 4 special district elections. County Auditor Heather Jobe noted that as part of her report to county commissioners at their meeting on Nov. 25.
“We’ve seen an increase percentage-wise in the number [of ballots] that we’re rejecting because of late postmarks,” she said. “It has to be postmarked by the date of the election, and the postal service has changed the way in which it postmarks things. Generally, mail in Goldendale goes to Portland before it’s postmarked. It can be two days after they receive it before they actually postmark it.”
Of the 6,348 ballots counted, the auditor’s office rejected 122, just shy of 2% of the total. Of those, 91 were rejected for postmark after the date and three were referred to the sheriff’s office for investigation of potential voter fraud. “One was signed by a power of attorney, which is not allowed in voting,” she said, “and two that we believe were signed by somebody not the voter.”
Turnout in Klickitat County was 39%, which was on par with the state average, particularly when the majority of the local races were uncontested.
Jobe encouraged the use of ballot drop boxes or delivering ballots in person at the courthouse to avoid missing the proper postmark.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.