Thurston County voters heading into the Nov. 3 general election face a compound problem: USPS mail delays the county has already flagged, and new evidence that voters of color statewide have their ballots challenged and rejected at higher rates.

A University of Washington analysis of roughly 26 million ballots cast from 2020 to 2025 was presented to state lawmakers on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The Washington State Standard first reported on the findings, which were supported by the Legislature and the Secretary of State's office.

The study found white voters had 1.5% of their general-election ballots flagged for signature discrepancies. The rate was 1.9% for Black voters, 2.0% for Asian voters and 2.2% for Hispanic voters, according to the UW report.

Age gaps were steeper. Voters aged 18 to 25 faced a 5.3% challenge rate. For those 66 and older, it was 0.7%.

Researchers did not find a meaningful difference between urban and rural voters.

Curing the problem

When a ballot is challenged, the voter can "cure" it by verifying their signature with the county elections office. In the 2025 general election, 58.5% of challenged voters statewide cured their ballots.

White voters cured 59.3% of their challenged ballots. Black voters cured 49.6%, Hispanic voters 49.5% and Asian voters 47.7%.

Young voters trailed again: those 18 to 25 cured 46.7% of the time, compared with 72.1% for voters 66 and older.

The combined effect is higher rejection rates for voters of color. Between 2020 and 2025, Black voters saw a 1.3% rejection rate, Hispanic voters 1.5% and Asian voters 1.4%, compared with 0.9% for white voters.

Recommendations

Scott Allard, co-director of the UW Elections Database Project and a co-author of the study, told lawmakers the disparities demand continued attention. Part of the problem, Allard said, is that cure notification letters may not be translated into the languages voters speak. The researchers recommended adding cell phone outreach to reach younger voters.

"It's really important that we meet voters where they're at, and when we're talking about 18 to 34-year-olds, that's going to be on your cell phone," Julie Wise, director of King County Elections, told lawmakers at the same hearing.

Jake Grumbach, an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy and a co-author of the study, said voters whose ballots are rejected become less likely to vote in future elections.

Thurston County context

Locally, the county auditor's elections office has warned of serious USPS mail-delivery problems, saying voters who follow all the rules are still seeing ballots arrive too late.

Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall has said mail ballots from the county travel to a Tacoma processing center before returning, creating a two-to-four-day delivery window, The Olympian reported July 26.

Statewide, more than 20,000 ballots were rejected in the August 2026 primary for arriving late, up from about 16,100 in the 2024 primary.

Ballots for the general election are scheduled to be mailed to voters on Oct. 16. Thurston County has 31 official ballot drop boxes.