Why do we have to wait so long for our results? some Washington candidates and campaigns whine every Election Night. Why can’t we be like Oregon?

Washington counts ballots it receives that are postmarked by election day, regardless of when they arrive. Oregon requires them to be in hand on election day; postmark doesn’t count. This is SOOOO much better, some good government groups say, because the vast majority of Oregon ballots are counted election night, while only about a half of Washington's are, and the rest come in and get counted in the succeeding days (and sometimes weeks.)

So it was with amusement that we note a story out of supposed electoral gold-standard Oregon that one of that state’s ballot issues is now in doubt because of some 13,000 ballots recently counted around the state. They’re “challenge” ballots, meaning there’s something wrong, like their signature doesn’t match the one on file.

But in fact they’re still counting in Oregon and the GMO initiative may be headed for a recount. In Washington, we’re still counting, but nothing’s in doubt.

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