KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Wash. gov: Election results should be more timely

Wash. gov: Election results should be more timely

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Gov. Chris Gregoire says she'd like to see an earlier ballot return deadline for the state's mail-in voters. Gregoire pointed to the Seattle mayor's race, which on Monday was still too close to call almost a week after the election.

She says there needs to be a better way of "making sure that on election night we have as many votes counted as we possibly can."

Under the state's election system, ballots count if they're mailed as late as midnight on Election Day, a system that usually leaves about half of the vote outstanding at the end of election night.

All but one of the state's 39 counties vote entirely by mail.

Pierce County maintains traditional poll sites, but most of its voters mail in their ballots anyway.