Bad signatures slow count of thousands of ballots

Spokane County elections officials received more than 3,500 ballots that they couldn’t count for the Nov. 7 election because of problems with signatures.

In some cases, the signature didn’t match the one on file with the voter’s registration form. In others, there was no signature on the ballot envelope.

They sent out letters with affidavits, asking voters in question to sign some paperwork and mail it in, but questions still remain for more than 2,000 ballots. The list of voters whose ballots have signature problems also was provided to local Republican and Democratic parties, which may be contacting them.

Some voters are being asked to come to the Elections Office, 1033 W. Gardner, and “cure” the problem by showing identification and filling out another form. The office is staying open on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., to help voters who can’t take time off work.

Matching voters and signatures is a problem every election, Elections Manager Paul Brandt said. Most years, about 60 percent of the ballots that are initially rejected because of signatures have those problems fixed and get counted.

This year those ballots might matter a bit more to some candidates. Spokane County has two races that have become significantly closer since election night.

After Thursday’s count, Democratic challenger Bonnie Mager moved ahead of Republican incumbent Phil Harris in the Spokane County commissioner’s race by 1,899 votes, a slight increase over Wednesday. In the undecided 6th State House race, Democratic challenger Don Barlow also added to his lead over Republican incumbent John Serben. Barlow’s margin bumped up to 535 votes.

County Assessor Ralph Baker appears to have won re-election, leading by more than 5,000 votes over Democrat Judy Personett.

Elections officials counted 3,230 ballots Thursday and estimated they have about 9,900 ballots countywide left to count, plus an unknown number of ballots that will have their signature problems corrected.