SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane County Elections Office has pushed back the completion of its ballot count to Monday, after a large number of voters returned their ballots at the last minute.
As of this morning, more than 58,000 ballots still needed counting. The elections office says that number is now down to 29,000. The office will continue processing ballots over the weekend, but it will not release more results until Monday.
The counting process follows several specific steps: sorting, opening and then tabulating the ballots. Each step takes time, and the workload has grown as many voters waited until the last possible day to return their ballots.
County Auditor Vicky Dalton said the office is taking time to do the process correctly.
“Just be patient,” Dalton said. “And remember, folks, if you want faster counts, get your ballots in earlier. With a third of all ballots coming to us on that last day, it is really difficult to process them in just a couple of days.”
Even after the count finishes, results will not become final until Nov. 24.
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