Despite concerns, relatively few Spokane County ballots were rejected for being too late

Despite widespread concerns that ballots sent through the mail would not be postmarked in time for the 2025 election, fewer late ballots in Spokane County were rejected than in prior years.

State law allows mail-in ballots to be received and still counted after Election Day, even if they arrive to election workers days later, but only if the ballots are postmarked on or before Election Day.

Postal union leadership and election officials had warned that the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery of mail was significantly delayed by multiple factors stemming from former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s “10-year plan.”

County elections officials recommended mailing ballots no later than three business days prior to the November election, while state elections officials went further, recommending mailing ballots seven to 10 days ahead of the election.

But by the time all Spokane County ballots had been counted, roughly 750 were rejected for arriving too late. In 2023, nearly 880 ballots had been rejected for the same reason. Nearly 890 were rejected for being too late in 2021.

“We didn’t have an unexpected number of too-late ballots,” said Mike McLaughlin, elections manager for Spokane County. “I think everything that was reported out, and the messaging got out there, I think that helped tremendously.”

There was a more notable uptick of rejected late ballots statewide, however, with nearly 14,750 ballots thrown out for coming in too late during the November election compared with around 12,000 in 2023 and nearly 13,000 in 2021.