Voting bloopers caused election officials to reject hundreds of ballots this fall
Voters use a drive-up collection box to cast their ballot Nov. 4, 2013 in downtown Vancouver, Wash.
Clark County’s low voter turnout of 37.62 percent in the 2013 general election could have been just a little bit better, if voters paid more attention when they were sending in their ballots.
Although about 93,000 civic-minded residents took the time to cast a ballot in Clark County, more than 900 ballots weren’t counted because voters didn’t follow election rules. Here’s a breakdown of the most common reasons Clark County officials rejected ballots this fall:
- 393 ballots were postmarked after Election Day, Nov. 5.
- Signatures on 241 affidavit envelopes didn’t match the signature officials have on file. Officials contacted these voters to verify their identity, but the voters did not respond.
- 175 voters didn’t sign the affidavit envelope at all, and didn’t respond when contacted by elections officials.
- Believe it or not, 18 voters returned a ballot from a previous election.
- 27 voters printed their names on the affidavit envelope instead of signing it, so it didn’t match the signature on file. They also didn’t respond when contacted by officials.
- 14 voters put their ballots in a drop-box, but they forgot to place their ballots in the affidavit envelope first.
- One voter was issued a ballot before moving, then got another ballot after the move. The voter returned two ballots, but only one was counted. Voting machines caught the mistake.
Stevie Mathieu
Stevie Mathieu is a political writer at The Columbian. Contact her at 360-735-4523 or stevie.mathieu@columbian.com or www.facebook.com/reportermathieu or www.twitter.com/col_politics.