Feb. 8 was Election Day, and as the ballots continue to be counted, it is worth keeping an eye out for a multitude of reasons. One of the concerns now includes the very real issue of having your ballot rejected. Recently, the Seattle Times found that young voters and voters of color were more likely to have their ballots rejected, and that the county a person lived in determined the chances of their ballot being rejected. The top three reasons for a ballot getting rejected in Washington State are that the ballot appeared past the deadline, the signature did not match the signature that the government had on file (which was usually from someone’s driver’s license) or that it was just missing. It’s too late to get a ballot in on time, but when a signature on a ballot does not match the signature on file, officials attempt to contact the voter through their cell phone. The problem is, some people aren’t able to get to a phone, which leads to ballots being rejected unnecessarily.
But there are several ways to make sure your ballot gets counted. If you kept the QR code that came with your ballot, you can use the QR code in order to check the status of your ballot. Another way to check the status of your ballot is to go to VoteWA.gov and enter your name and birthday and check the status of your ballot. The system does take several days to update, but it’s a good way to make sure that your ballot gets counted.
