SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane County Elections Office can move forward with its midterm election preparations without major disruptions after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld mail-in voting in a 7-2 decision this week.
The ruling rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections. The decision eliminates uncertainty that had prompted county election officials to develop contingency plans for a potential legal loss.
Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton said the office had prepared for either outcome from the high court, but the contingency plans would have created significant challenges for voters and the county.
“We have been working on some contingency plans, which thankfully we don’t have to put into place, because they would have been very difficult, they would have been very costly, and they would have meant that voters would have taken a lot more effort to get their ballot,” Dalton said.
Washington is one of only eight states that conducts all-mail elections, making it particularly vulnerable to changes in federal voting law. Had the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration, the state would have faced some of the most dramatic operational changes of any state in the nation.
Election workers in Spokane County are already preparing ballots for distribution. The county will send out more than 300,000 ballots starting October 14th to voters across the region.
The Supreme Court’s decision means the county can maintain its established timelines and deadlines for ballot design, printing, and distribution. Dalton emphasized that the ruling did not impact the county’s schedule.
“The Supreme Court did not have an impact on our time lines and our deadlines. So these are the normal times lines and deadlines that we have for when we have to have the ballot design ready, when we have to receive the ballots from the printer,” Dalton said.
Voters in Spokane County can register and update their addresses online until October 26th. For those who lost homes in recent Spokane-area fires, the Elections Office encourages checking mailing addresses online to ensure ballots are delivered to the correct location.
Voters can also visit the Elections Office in person to update their address until November 3rd.
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