by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
September 2, 2026
SEATTLE — Over 20,000 ballots in Washington’s primary election last month were rejected because they came in too late, thousands more than in 2024.
This comes as election officials have raised the alarm over the U.S. Postal Service not postmarking mail-in ballots on the day they’re received due to reduced service and faraway processing centers. Officials here have encouraged Washingtonians to use ballot drop boxes or mail their ballots at least a week before election day to ensure they’ll be counted.
Late last year, the Postal Service finalized a rule saying that a piece of mail’s “postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of the mailpiece.”
Statewide, the number of ballots not counted because of late postmarks increased 32%.
In the 2024 primary, 16,131 votes were uncounted because of this. This year, it was 20,267, despite lower turnout overall at about 37%. Over two-thirds of ballots were returned via drop box this year, up a tick from 2024.
Rural counties appeared to be affected the most, according to state election data. Lewis, Pend Oreille, Franklin, Okanogan and Yakima counties saw a tripling of late ballots that couldn’t be counted. In Mason and Stevens counties, the number quadrupled. In about half of Washington’s counties, it doubled.
Meanwhile, the state’s most urban areas went the other direction, with fewer ballots rejected for not coming in on time. King, Spokane, Pierce and Clark counties all improved.
The rejected ballot total equals a small fraction of the nearly two million votes cast in this year’s primary.
Washington has over five million registered voters. But just a few votes can make a difference in individual races. In one legislative district, two Democratic state Senate candidates were separated by four votes to advance out of the primary. They were running to represent part of Whatcom County, where 615 votes were rejected for lateness, 179 more than two years ago.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell presented the data Wednesday in Seattle.
Cantwell, a Democrat, said President Donald Trump and the Postal Service are “disenfranchising voters across the United States with policies that are leaving them with a ballot that was cast but never counted.” She called on her Republican colleagues in the Senate to hold hearings on the issue.
“This is what makes our country great: the fact that we have free and fair elections,” Cantwell said. “But right now, the U.S. Postal Service is not making it too fair.”
They attributed the rural-urban divide to less access to drop boxes, forcing voters to rely on the unreliable mail system to return their ballots.
The Postal Service also recently changed policy so that mail dropped off more than 50 miles from a distribution center is picked up the next day, instead of at the end of the day. The mail, including any returned ballots, is transferred to these facilities and postmarked there. This process, especially important in rural areas, could take multiple days.
This year, election officials also saw delays in transferring ballots returned in drop boxes in one county that needed to be counted by another. In Island County, for example, ballots mailed over by neighboring Skagit County were postmarked on Aug. 7, but weren’t delivered until after election certification, which was Aug. 18, according to the secretary of state’s office.
These votes aren’t counted among the tallies of ballots that came in too late.
Hobbs’ office says it has spent $400,000 to educate voters on the importance of using drop boxes, instead of the mail, and over $350,000 reimbursing counties for new boxes and reprinted ballot envelopes.
The Postal Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The first ballots will go out in a matter of weeks for the Nov. 3 general election. Most ballots will be mailed to voters Oct. 16.
Tensions between the state and federal government are rising ahead of Election Day.
This week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reportedly launched a surge in voter fraud investigations in Washington and other states in its crusade for noncitizen voters.
The state is also litigating the future of its mail-in ballot system with the Trump administration, which is seeking to tighten federal control over it through the Postal Service. A federal judge has blocked the federal government’s moves, but the case is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court with just two months until the election. If upheld, officials here think it could sow chaos for the midterms.
“I don’t have time to depend on the Supreme Court,” Cantwell said. “I have to depend on Washington voters and the rest of America to get out and vote and do it in the most prudent fashion, so that we can have our voices heard in an election.”
Hobbs said the Postal Service “is trying to do everything they can to ruin vote by mail in the state of Washington.”
Washington is also awaiting word from a federal judge in Seattle on whether the state needs to hand over its voter rolls to the Trump administration. The administration has been unsuccessful in numerous similar cases across the country. The state and feds argued the case last month and are waiting for a ruling.
On the ballot will be three statewide initiatives dealing with Washington’s new income tax on high earners, parental rights of public school students and transgender students’ participation in school sports. Also decided will be five closely-watched state Supreme Court races, over 100 state legislative races and every member of the U.S. House.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: [email protected].