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Editor’s Note: This story is part of Cascadia Daily News’ mini-series “pre-bunking” misinformation and disinformation ahead of the 2024 election. The series will continue to explore the democratic process in Whatcom County.
Registered voters should have received their ballots by now, confirmed Whatcom County Auditor Stacy Henthorn on Wednesday, Oct. 23. With the election less than two weeks away, this means that anyone who hasn’t gotten their election mail should follow up with the Auditor’s Office.
Every active registered voter in the county was sent a ballot, secrecy envelope and return envelope on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The return envelope was printed with a unique barcode, which is its ballot ID number, and requires a matching signature before it can be counted — measures taken to safeguard against election fraud.
As of Tuesday, Oct. 22, more than 15,000 ballots were accepted by the Election Center.
Anyone who hasn’t received their ballot yet is encouraged to visit the Auditor’s Office at 311 Grand Ave., Suite 103, to request a replacement. The replacement ballot will be issued with a different ballot ID number to ensure only one ballot is accepted for each voter. Replacement ballots can also be printed off from VoteWA.gov.
Those who aren’t registered to vote, but are qualified to do so, can still register up until the final minutes of the election.
It’s possible to walk into any election office and register up until the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, Whatcom County Chief Deputy Auditor Amy Grasher previously told Cascadia Daily News.
In addition to its regular hours, the Auditor’s Office will be open for voter registration and ballot issuance services from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2.
Henthorn encouraged voters to track their ballots once they’ve voted by texting “VOTE” to 868392. Once signed up, the voter will be notified when their ballot is received, as well as when it is either accepted or rejected.
In cases where a ballot is rejected, election officials will follow up with the voter.
“We will mail you a letter, we will call you, we will email you. And, if you sign up for text messages, you’ll be notified that your ballot has been rejected and the steps to fix it,” Grasher said.
Voters who don’t want to sign up to receive text messages can access the same information by logging in to VoteWA.gov.
Anyone who receives election mail for a voter who no longer lives at their address is asked to write “Return to Sender, not at this address,” and put it back in the mail to be returned to the Auditor’s Office.
“This may happen when people move and don’t update their voter registration,” Henthorn noted.
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
