On Friday the Washington Office of the Secretary of State identified that automatic voter registrations were not processed in Ferry and Stevens counties between July 16th, 2024, and Oct. 31st, 2025.
An automatic voter registration is submitted automatically when a person applying for state government services provides proof of citizenship. However, each application still requires county election administrator review.
The processing error affected 6,783 total applicants. While many of those belonged to currently registered voters, 924 eligible voters with unprocessed applications may still be unregistered.
After receiving a concern from a voter, the Secretary of State’s Elections Division audited voter registrations received from the Department of Licensing to find the backlog of automatic voter registrations in both counties due to an administrative error.
This issue has been resolved and both counties are processing registrations. The Secretary of State’s Office is working with county elections partners to ensure this administrative error is avoided in the future.
The Secretary of State’s Office recommends that voters who have not received their ballot visit their county elections office. Voters can obtain a replacement ballot or register to vote in person at their county elections office until 8 p.m. tonight (Tue). Voters may confirm their voter registration status at any time online at website VoteWA.gov.
