Uncounted mail-in ballots that arrived too late to be counted more than tripled in Lewis County between the 2024 and 2026 elections, according to recent data released by Washington state.
Washington state Sen. Maria Cantwell and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs held a Seattle press conference Sept. 2, when they warned of a growing number of “disenfranchised” voters as more ballots are cast but not counted in Washington state. Many are ballots they labeled as “too-lates,” which are filled out and mailed, but not postmarked in time to be counted.
They warned the issue particularly impacts the state’s most rural counties where more people mail their ballots and less drop boxes are easily accessible.
According to the information provided by the state, Lewis County was the worst impacted in the Southwest Washington region, with the number of ballots rejected due to a late postmark during this year’s primary election in August increased by just over 200% of the number from the 2024 August primary. That means the number nearly tripled.
According to Lewis County Chief Deputy Auditor Tom Stanton, the Lewis County Auditor’s Office rejected 222 late postmark ballots during the 2024 primary election and this year rejected 685. Stanton added that in the time between the two elections, the United States Postal Service has stopped guaranteeing a postmark at the time of acceptance.
The auditors office has, for over the last decade, recommended that voters mail their ballots early and use either a ballot box or get a hand stamp at the post office for ballots submitted closer to election day.
“For the last 12 years, we have recommended voters mail their ballots back at least seven days before election day, in accordance with USPS guidance,” Stanton said. “We have also recommended that if voters return their ballots on election day that they either use an official ballot drop box or get a hand cancellation stamp from a postal clerk.”
Stanton commented that he would now extend that election day guidance to a full seven days before the election.
A cancellation stamp refers to the stamp mark placed on the postage of a piece of mail to recognize that it has been properly paid for and that that postage cannot be reused.
None of Lewis County’s neighbors — Thurston County to the north and Cowlitz County to the south — were listed in the information from the state.
However, Wahkiakum County was listed as seeing its own number of too-late ballots roughly doubling. Lewis County’s neighbor to the east, Yakima County, was among the worst affected, with its number of too-late ballots well over tripling. The county saw the number increase by 268.5%.
Hobbs and Cantwell linked the change to federal policies enacted by the Trump Administration that they said can delay when a ballot is postmarked and be the difference between if a ballot is counted or not.
Hobbs warned that the policy could delay a ballot being postmarked for days, eliminating more mail-in ballots from being counted.
“The U.S. Postal Service is trying to do everything they can to ruin vote by mail in the State of Washington,” Hobbs said. “We are all used to putting our ballot in the mailbox, knowing that if you put it in there before 8 p.m. on election day, it would be counted. But instead, this postmaster general — in coordination with the administration — changes the rule on postmarks so that it’s done at the central processing facility. So what does that mean? That could mean days that your ballot is delayed.”
Both Hobbs and Cantwell urged voters, especially those in rural counties, to either deliver their ballots to a drop box or mail their ballots as soon as they are received.
“Please drop your ballot in a ballot box provided by the local county, if possible,” Cantwell said. “If you can’t do that, and you’re in a rural community, mail your ballot as soon as you get it. I find a little bit of irony here that the president may be disenfranchising his most stable voters in rural communities by taking the vote away.”