Election results final: Turnout at 75 percent

Whitman County's canvass board rejected 1,195 ballots marked as questionable by election staff, as the Nov. 2 election was slated to be certified Wednesday morning.

Certification of the county's results was due in to the Secretary of State's office Tuesday, but the closure of the courthouse after Monday night's blizzard delayed the final stamp of approval.

Auditor Eunice Coker said Tuesday she received approval from the Secretary of State to delay the local certification. The state is set to make the results of the election final Dec. 2.

The county canvass board accepted only nine of the flagged ballots, none of which changed results.

Colton School District's $5 million request for a bond issue to remodel its school was the only measure to fall short of passage. Final count gave the measure 52 percent approval, short of the required 60 percent super majority.

Final ballot count included 13,817 of the 19,128 ballots issued to registered voters, good for a 75 percent turnout.

Of the canvased ballots, 1,002 were rejected because they were returned from the post office as undeliverable; 76 were rejected because signatures on the ballots did not match those on file; 47 were rejected because they were postmarked after election day; 19 were rejected because they lacked a signature; 17 provisional ballots were rejected because they were not registered in Whitman County and 34 were rejected for a variety of other issues, including lack of identification on file with the county, signings by the wrong person, and ballot markings that failed to indicate the intent of the voter.