The Washington Secretary of State’s Office said Friday it discovered a processing error that left hundreds of eligible voters in Ferry and Stevens counties unregistered for more than a year.
Ferry and Stevens counties are located in northeast Washington.
According to the agency, automatic voter registrations—submitted when residents provide proof of citizenship while applying for state services—were not processed between July 16, 2024, and Oct. 31, 2025.
The issue affected 6,783 applications in total, though most belonged to people who were already registered to vote.
Officials said 924 eligible voters may still be unregistered as a result.
The problem came to light after a voter raised a concern with the Office of the Secretary of State’s Elections Division.
An audit of registration records from the Department of Licensing revealed the backlog of automatic registrations in both counties stemmed from an administrative error.
State officials said the issue has since been fixed, and both counties are now processing automatic registrations again.
The Secretary of State’s Office is working with local election administrators to prevent a similar problem in the future.
The office urged anyone who has not received a ballot to visit their county elections office before 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, to register or request a replacement ballot.
Voters can also confirm their registration status anytime at VoteWA.gov.
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