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With nine days until the election, returned ballots are coming in at a slower pace than four years ago, but there’s a reason for that, according to Washington’s director of elections.

As of Friday, October 25, nearly 23% of the nearly 5 million ballots sent to state voters have been returned to county election offices — totaling 1,121,261 out of 4,971,811 ballots mailed.

In 2020, nearly 39% of ballots had been returned by this point, but that was due to ballots being sent out earlier.

“In 2020, there was a lot of narrative in the national and local media about the effectiveness of the United States Postal Service and ballot delivery times,” Stuart Holmes, Director of Elections for the Washington State Secretary of State’s Office, told ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio.

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Holmes said in 2020, many counties chose to mail ballots weeks earlier than state law requires. This year, counties like Thurston, Mason and Spokane have continued the practice of sending ballots early.

“You’re likely to see counties that did that have a higher turnout so far than their sister counties,” he added.

Current totals show Jefferson County with the highest return rate so far at 39%, followed by Mason at 37% and Wahkiakum at 36%. Larger counties like Thurston have a 34% return rate, Spokane 32%, King and Snohomish each at 20% and Pierce at 18%.

Klickitat County currently has the state’s lowest return rate at 7%.

Drop boxes are the preferred method of ballot return, accounting for 54% of returns, with mail at 45% and other methods at 1%.

Garfield County has the highest rate of “challenged” ballots at 2.57%, with a return rate of 26%. Other counties with over a 2% challenge rate include San Juan, Kitsap, Adams, Grant, Okanogan and Walla Walla.

Ballots are typically challenged early in the election process if the return envelope lacks a voter signature, the signature doesn’t match what’s on file, or if a voter returned a previously issued ballot.
Holmes noted election observers have been present in some election offices as ballot envelopes are opened, but they aren’t involved in the challenge process.

“They are there to ensure that state election laws are followed,” Holmes said. “They don’t get to challenge signatures, touch voted ballots, or handle them in any way.”

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So far, older voters have been the most active in returning ballots, with 40% of ballots from voters over 65 years old already returned. By age group, the rates are 26% for ages 55-64, 19% for ages 45-54, 15% for ages 35-44, 11% for ages 25-34, and 9% for ages 18-24.

Holmes said these trends are typical for a presidential election year.

Matt Markovich often covers the state legislature and public policy for ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio. You can read more of Matt’s stories here. Follow him on , or email him here.