Ballot mailed, but allegedly not counted

Mason County resident Scott Gordon says he dropped off his March 12 presidential primary ballot at the Belfair post office drive-thru mailbox in February and was “shocked” to see it wasn’t counted.

Gordon contacted the Journal after he checked on his ballot through the Mason County elections website.

If you are a registered Washington voter, you can sign in and learn when your ballot was mailed, when it was received by Mason County and when it was accepted.

“With all this talk about mail-in voting I decided to check on my ballot through the Mason County elections site. I was shocked to see my ballot was sent to me in February but that it was never received back,” Gordon wrote in an email.

Mason County Auditor Steve Duenkel is investigating what happened to the ballot.

Duenkel told the Journal last week he contacted the Belfair post office and was referred to U.S. Postal Service Inspection Services. The inspectors then told him to contact electionmail.org to report the missing ballot.

Duenkel said he also got in touch with Gordon to ask him details about when he put the ballot in the mail and then gave that information to the Belfair post office.

Gordon told the Journal Duenkel was “very helpful,” and said he had a positive experience with the Auditor’s Office.

“Ballots are worth more than money and we treat every legal ballot with the utmost seriousness and care,” Duenkel said.

Duenkel recommended that all voters check their ballot’s status.

“If there are ever any issues, the elections team is happy to issue a replacement ballot up to 8 p.m. election day,” he said.

There was no update on what happened with the ballot as of Wednesday, March 27. To check the status of your ballot, go to http://www.votewa.gov.