House approved bill Wednesday

OLYMPIA — The state House of Representatives approved a bill allowing counties to count all ballots including improperly marked ballots Wednesday.

The bill would apply only to ballots with "a straight Republican or Democrat" affiliation.

Bill sponsor, Rep. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, said 9 percent of Washington voters did not declare their party affiliation and about 100,000 partisan votes were not counted in September's primary.

"The partisan primary system is new and people are still getting used to it," Hailey said. "Failing to fill in the party-preference box on the ballot is a simple error and voters shouldn't be punished for an unintended oversight. If an eligible voter votes along party lines, the ballot ought to count."

The bill encourages people to vote and allows for votes to be counted fairly, he said.

"I realize that a lot of voters are frustrated over the loss of the blanket primary, the directions were confusing to some folks and there were cases where people deliberately ignored the party-preference box as a kind of protest against the system," he said.