New Rules Will Speed Up Absentee Count Some 150,000 Ballots Uncounted; New Rules Planned Before Election

Emergency rules are being drawn up so county workers can count absentee ballots much faster in the November general election than they did in the primary.

More than 150,000 absentee ballots from Tuesday’s primary have yet to be counted, leaving questions about the outcome of some state-wide races and local ballot issues.

The state Supreme Court is expected to hold an emergency session on the issue in October. But Secretary of State Ralph Munro said Friday that he thinks he can clear up the confusion before then.

Munro’s office has prepared a draft of a proposed rule aimed at clearing up ambiguities in state law over what constitutes “tabulation” of absentee ballots.

Don Whiting, assistant secretary of state, said the proposed rule says election workers can verify voter signatures, open envelopes, remove ballots and put them into scanner or punch-card machines before Election Day. However, they would not be able to count those votes until after the polls close at 8 p.m.

On Sept. 13, the organization Citizens for Leaders with Ethics and Accountability Now persuaded Supreme Court Justice Charles Z. Smith to order a halt to any counting of absentee ballots in Pierce County until after the polls closed Tuesday.

Pierce County Auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek, a Democrat, said the order confused her because workers weren’t actually adding up the totals. She said they were only opening envelopes, verifying signatures and feeding ballots into scanners.

Just to be on the safe side, she stopped all processing of ballots until after the polls closed, she said.

Earlier this year, Munro’s office drafted a bill to clarify absentee ballot counting procedures. The measure would have permitted auditors to start processing mail-in and absentee ballots 10 days before an election, as long as they don’t actually count them until after the polls close.

The bill was replaced by a measure sponsored by Rep. Gigi Talcott, R-Tacoma, that would have restricted auditors’ ability to convert voting methods in some places to mail instead of polling places. Her bill failed to pass.

Talcott said Friday that she didn’t understand all the ramifications of replacing Munro’s bill with her own proposal, and that she plans to resurrect Munro’s original bill in the next legislative session.