In local elections across the state this week, Washington voters will decide on mayors, city and county councilmembers, sheriffs, elections directors and county auditors.
But even if you’ve already voted, there’s a chance your ballot could get rejected: around 1% of ballots in most elections are challenged and thrown out, often because they were turned in late, lack a signature, or the signature provided doesn't match what's on file.
A novel study from the University of Washington released on Monday looked at whose ballots get rejected and why. Researchers studied primary and general elections in Washington state from 2020 to 2022 and found evidence that Hispanic and Asian voters had higher rates of ballot rejection than white voters.
"We know that people with complex surnames, multiple middle or multiple last names may often shorten those names in everyday signatures," said Scott Allard, a UW professor and an author of the study. "And if they do that, it may be that the signature that they put on their ballot is what they use every day, but it may not be what's on their driver's license."
Or the signature they used when they registered to vote. This is not common knowledge among voters: Allard himself was in the dark about it before he began the study.
"I had no idea that's what was being matched," Allard said. "Most voters we spoke to didn't realize that as well. And we even – we've talked to state legislators and other elected officials, and many of them weren't actually aware that this was how it was matched either."
Since voters aren't asked to identify their race when they register to vote, the study used an algorithm that checks voters' last names against census files to determine most likely race. For example, about a million Americans have the surname Hernandez, and 94% of them identify as Hispanic.
The study found evidence that in the general election of 2020 in Washington state — where signature issues were the main reason ballots were thrown out, since more people than usual turned their ballots in on time — 1.3% of ballots cast by Hispanic voters were rejected and 1.2% of ballots cast by Asian voters were rejected, compared to 0.6% of ballots cast by white voters.
"Those patterns shift over time a little bit, but generally, you see those those kinds of gaps between Hispanic, Asian and white voters," Allard said. "There are similar disparities between Black and white voters, but they're smaller."
A 2022 report from the state auditor also raised these issues; both also found young people were more likely to have their ballots rejected. Neither looked at whether Republicans or Democrats were more likely to have their ballots rejected.
Be sure to get your ballot postmarked or into a drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday. If your signature doesn’t match, your county elections office should contact you. You can check the status at votewa.gov.
