SEATTLE – State elections officials are gearing up for what they hope will be a smooth general election in November after Washington’s primary went off without any major glitches.
Tuesday’s primary was the first since election reforms were approved by the Legislature, as well as the first real test for elections workers since the state’s 2004 general election debacle.
A turnout of 30 percent to 35 percent of the state’s 3.5 million registered voters was predicted. But with 29 out of 39 counties conducting elections by mail, state officials can’t say for sure that they avoided serious problems until after all absentee ballots have been received. About 80 percent of the primary turnout was expected to by mail-in ballots.
“But frankly, if there were any real problems, we would have seen them yesterday,” Secretary of State Sam Reed said Wednesday.
Instead, Reed said his office heard only minor complaints, including a problem with a tabulator in Cowlitz County. Most voters continued to express irritation about being required to vote for a single party’s candidates, he added.
“It’s kind of a relief … after what happened last year,” Reed said.
Last fall, problems with the system surfaced in three separate counts of the governor’s race.
In King County, which had the most problems last fall, election officials were cautiously optimistic that Tuesday’s election was successful.
Officials prepared for unforeseen problems by dispatching troubleshooters to polling places and maintaining a help desk to monitor the election. The biggest problem turned out to be when a key broke in a lock, delaying the opening of one polling place for an hour.
“Yesterday, all in all, was smooth and successful,” said Bobbie Egan, King County elections spokeswoman. “What’s important is we not sit back on the success of one day.”
Egan said the elections staff will continue to check for valid postmarks, verify signatures, separate ballots from return and security envelopes, and prepare ballots for tabulation.
As soon as the election is certified Sept. 30, workers will begin preparing new ballots for the Nov. 8 general election.
Unofficially, Reed predicts a 60 percent statewide turnout in November.
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