Oregon Public Broadcasting

Around the region, a bunch of big election races remain too close to call and could stay that way for days.   Those include the U.S. Senate race in Oregon, and in Washington, the state schools superintendent and public lands commissioner races.

In Washington State, part of the delay comes from the fact that fresh, valid ballots are still arriving in the mail.

Washington’s Secretary of State wants different voting rules to speed things up.  Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

Republican Sam Reed says “a compelling case” can be made to move up the deadline for returning vote-by-mail ballots.

Washington’s newly re-elected Secretary of State says he’ll ask the 2009 Legislature to require that ballots be in by Election Day rather than just postmarked by that day.

Sam Reed: “I think that it is very important that by Election Day we have meaningful results. Plus in my opinion, are we going to encourage procrastination?  I don’t think we should.  If people really can’t decide until Election Day, then they can always drop it off in a drop box or something.”

That’s how Oregon and Idaho have handled absentee ballots for years. 

The Washington Legislature defeated a prior attempt to require that ballots be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The fear is that slow mail delivery might disenfranchise people through no fault of their own.

Online:

Washington Secretary of State’s office