Thurston County Auditor's Office

09/07/2026

Your vote is your voice, and your labor builds our community. Today, we honor both. Happy Labor Day!

09/03/2026

We Are Still Getting Ballots that Should Have Counted in the Primary

While we are seeing some concerning trends with ballots returned by mail, I want to start by recognizing the great job Thurston County voters are doing by using official ballot drop boxes.

During the recent primary election, Thurston County voters did a great job. About 76% of voters used official ballot drop boxes, which is up from 66% in 2022. Because so many people used drop boxes, almost all ballots arrived on time to be counted.

However, we are seeing serious problems with mail delivery through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Voters are following all the rules, but mail delays are causing many ballots to arrive way too late.

The Problem with Mail Delivery

By law, we must certify the election by a specific deadline. For the primary, that date was August 18, 2026, two weeks after Election Day. Any ballot that arrives after this date cannot be counted, even if it was mailed on time.

We are seeing two main problems with the post office:

Slow Mail: Many people mailed their ballots well before Election Day, but the ballots sat in post office sorting centers for weeks. In one case, a ballot was mailed in late July but didn't reach our office until after the August 18 deadline. It took 19 days to arrive, so it could not be counted.

Ballots sent Between Counties: In Washington State, you can drop your ballot into any official drop box in the state. Other counties collect those ballots and mail them back to us using USPS Priority Mail. In the past, this worked well. But this year, mail sent on August 5 didn't reach us until August 24, six days after the deadline.

So far, our office has received 70 valid ballots that arrived after the certification deadline. This has never happened before, and it means those votes could not be counted. One ballot took 19 days to reach us.

What We Are Doing for November

No voter should lose their vote when they’ve followed every rule.

To fix this for the November election, we will no longer rely on the post office to send ballots between counties. Instead, our team will personally drive to neighboring counties to pick up and hand-deliver these ballots ourselves. Even though this costs extra money and time, it is necessary to make sure every vote counts.

How You Can Help & Helpful Resources

The safest way to make sure your vote is counted is to use an official ballot drop box instead of putting your ballot in the mail.

Visit VoteWA.gov to check your voter registration, track your ballot, or find a drop box near you.

For local election information, visit the Thurston County Auditor’s Office website to see the official 2026 election schedule and updates.

09/02/2026

The Thurston County Auditor's Office will be closed on Monday, September 7 in observation of Labor Day.

09/01/2026

Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Election Center. “Mary Hall exemplifies the very best of election administration. She is a visionary practitioner whose work over three decades has modernized how elections are run,” said Dr. Kathleen Hale, Executive Director of the Election Center.

08/31/2026

Received a bright yellow postcard in the mail about your car registration? It’s official! The Washington Department of Licensing sent these friendly reminders to vehicle owners with expired registrations.

If you want to check your current vehicle status, you can do so quickly by visiting dol.wa.gov or stopping by any of our eight licensing subagent locations. Vehicles with registrations expired for over a year must be registered in person.

08/18/2026

The Thurston County Canvassing Board has certified the August 4, 2026 Primary Election. Final official election results can be found at ThurstonWAVotes.gov

08/11/2026

Unsure which passport forms you need? This interactive guide can help. Answer a few questions to determine the correct forms, calculate your fees, and receive a checklist of next steps for your application. Please note: this is an informational tool, not an online application.

This link opens a new page. Once you have read the notice and disclaimer, close that window and click on the box below to indicate you have read them.

08/06/2026

Ever wonder what happens at an official election drop box at 8:00 p.m on Election Night? Here is a behind-the-scenes look at drop box protocols and how late ballots are securely handled.

When the clock strikes 8:00 p.m., drop box closing teams follow state law and strict operating procedures to protect election integrity. Voters arriving after the deadline are not permitted to deposit ballots directly into the box. Instead, election staff hand the voter a late ballot card explaining the cutoff rule. Staff then accept the ballot, place it into a designated late-ballot envelope, and document the details.

These late-ballot envelopes are returned directly to the Ballot Processing Center on Election Night, where they are logged separately to maintain a clear chain of custody before going to the canvassing board. Crucially, late ballots are kept entirely separate from ballots deposited inside the drop box before 8:00 p.m., which are collected by a different team and processed normally.

By following these precise procedures, election staff ensure that rules are enforced consistently, chain of custody remains unbroken, and valid votes are protected. Transparency and standard protocols are the foundation of trustworthy elections.

08/05/2026

Accurate elections take time. We're working hard to make sure every valid ballot is counted before the election is certified on August 18.

08/05/2026

Unofficial Results for the August 4, 2026 Primary Election have been posted.

https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/thurstoncountywa.gov.if-us-west-2/s3fs-public/2026-08/UnofficialResults_080426.pdf