State: Coding glitch results in nearly 7,000 in Washington not being registered to vote

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The information of thousands of people who thought they were registered to vote when getting a new driver's license after a name change did not make it to the voter rolls due a software error that officials at the Department of Licensing say may have been an issue since 2006.

Officials at the state agency and Secretary of State Kim Wyman announced the error Tuesday, and said that they are working to ensure that nearly 7,000 people who didn't already register through other means will receive ballots this week in time for special elections on levies and other ballot measures in most of the state's 39 counties next week.

Licensing Director Pat Kohler said that an initial error detected in December was believed to be due to human error, but that it wasn't until late January that it was clear that a coding error meant that thousands of names weren't being transmitted to the secretary of state's office. A fix was put in place at the end of January.