An Eastern WA county has to recount its presidential primary ballots by hand. Here’s why

Walla Walla County election officials will start hand recounting all ballots submitted in the March 12 presidential primary after “slight report issues” were found at the time of the election certification.

The laborious recount of more than 13,900 ballots will begin 10 a.m. Monday, April 8, in the county commission chambers in the Eastern Washington city. The counting is expected to finish sometime mid-week.

Both Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump overwhelmingly won their respective party’s primary election last month in the county, earning 85% and 79% of the votes.

Nearly 8,700 voters participated in the Republican primary and about 5,200 participated in the Democratic primary.

But minor tally irregularities tied to the reporting system were discovered during the process after election officials noticed the totals were off by one or two ballots, according to the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin this week.

The error appears to be caused by marks made on the “write in” line of the ballot.

The reporting system is one of the final steps before county officials upload their results to the Washington Secretary of State’s website. The irregularities have nothing to do with the county’s offline tabulation machines, which sort and count ballots.

“The hand recount is being done at the request of the county canvassing board,” Walla Walla County Auditor Karen Martin said in a statement released this week.

“We had some slight report issues at the time of certification and we as the canvassing board are just wanting to confirm the results of the election by doing a hand recount so that everyone can be assured of the results and the integrity of our system,” she continued.

The county’s canvassing board — made up of Martin, as well as County Commissioner Jenny Mayberry and Prosecutor Sabastian Roberts — voted unanimously at a March 27 meeting to conduct the hand recount after the Secretary of State’s Office certified statewide results on March 29.

It’s the first hand recount for the county of 62,000 since the 2004 gubernatorial election between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi, said Walla Walla elections supervisor Morgen Bradshaw-Morgan. That race is often touted as the closest statewide election in state history.

Among all 39 Washington counties that participated in the March 12 primary, Walla Walla is the only one that will conduct a manual recount of ballots, a spokesperson with Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office confirmed to the Tri-City Herald.

Biden received nearly 764,000 votes, about 83% of the total Democratic vote, and Trump received more than 600,000 votes, roughly 76% of the Republican vote, in Washington’s statewide March 12 party primary.

The turnaround for Walla Walla’s hand recount will be a tight one for county officials. Friday, April 5, marked the start of the 18-day voting period for the April 23 Special Election, when local measures are likely to come before voters.

Six Thurston County election officials are coming into town to help expedite the recount timeline, the Union-Bulletin reports.

Elections and the public officials who run them have come under increased scrutiny in the years since Trump claimed, without evidence, widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential general election. As a result, election workers across the country have been subject to violent and graphic threats against their lives.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee last month signed a bill into law that now makes it a class C felony to harass an election workers while they’re on the clock. That law went into effect March 26.

During the November 2023 election, four county elections offices in Washington had to be evacuated after receiving envelopes with suspicious powder during ballot processing. Some of those envelopes tested positive for fentanyl.

Walla Walla election officials welcome the public to observe next week’s hand recount in the commissioner’s chambers, at 314 West Main Street. No disruptive behavior, electioneering or political talk, or cell phone use will be allowed in the facility.