Washington State: more votes than voters in King County
The Seattle Times reports: An unknown number of provisional voters, some of whom may not even have been registered to vote, improperly put their ballots directly into vote-counting machines at polling places, King County's elections superintendent said yesterday.
Once those ballots went into the machines, there was no way to separate them from legitimate ballots.
Provisional ballots are given on Election Day to voters who show up at the wrong precinct or whose registration is in question. The ballots are supposed to be put inside two envelopes, with the voter's name, address and signature on the outside, and counted only after the voter's status is verified. ...
Miscast provisional votes could be one reason the number of ballots counted in King County outnumbered the list of voters who voted by 3,539. -- The Seattle Times: Politics: Election scrutiny reveals provisional-vote flaws