Voting may not end at 8 p.m. in two counties

Polls are supposed to close at 8 p.m. But there are long lines at polling places in King and Pierce counties.

Some voters are waiting up to two hours to cast ballots in Pierce County prompting the Secretary of State’s Office to devise a plan to make sure no one in line loses out.

State Elections Director Nick Handy said this afternoon anyone in line at a polling place by 7:59 p.m. will get to cast a ballot regardless of the time.

In a prepared statement he said:

“Both King and Pierce counties are committed to the following procedure at closing of polls at 8 p.m.: An election worker will go to the end of the line and stand there monitoring the line. That person will make sure no one else joins the line and will make sure that all those in line are properly processed through the polling sites.

“All polling sites will stay open until all voters who were in line at 8 p.m. have voted. Both counties are committed to this process, so we can make a strong firm statement about this.”