You voted, well, on most of the ballot. Was there a race where you could not decide and you left it blank? When it’s counted, that’s called an “undervote.” This election, 78.87% of the registered voters in Pierce County actually voted.
Undervoting is very common. A I was perusing the election results that are effectively complete and will be certified on November 27, I noticed how large the numbers of missing votes are. In several elections, the under votes could easily have flipped the results.
Here are the races selective voters essentially decided, by not voting:
County Council #3 Undervotes 3,325 McCune 24,515 Rasmussen 21,466 County Council – District No. 6 Under Votes 3,832 Doug Richardson 18,405 Ann Dasch 16,545 County Assessor – Treasurer Under Votes 65,864 Mike Lonergan 171,721 Billie O’Brien 110,029 Pierce Transit Under Votes 15,505 Approved 100,214 Rejected 100,904 State Rep. 25th Legislative Pos. 1 Under Votes 4,045 Dawn Morrell 30,038 Shelly Schlumpf 26,998Here is some data on undervoting since 2004, from the county elections office. The POST would love to hear from you about what might have made you vote in an election that you skipped over.
| Office | 2012 Undervotes | 2008 Undervotes *Ranked Choice Voting for County Offices | 2004 Undervotes |
| Ballots Counted | 349,311 | 333,824 | 317,002 |
| President | 2,604 | 1,447 | 2,138 |
| US Senator | 11,200 | Not on ballot | 6,593 |
| Governor | 9,966 | 6,400 | 6,979 |
| Insurance Commissioner | 31,886 | 28,505 | 28,902 |
| Commissioner of Public Lands | 32,211 | ||
| Superintendent of Public Instruction | 86,049 | ||
| County Executive | 44,045 | 13,330 | 28,718 |
| County Council 2 | 10,889 | 3,678 | 12,429 Unopposed |
| County Council 3 | 3,327 | 2,987 | 4,182 |
| County Council 4 | 4,259 | 5,177 | 12,204 Unopposed |
| Charter Amendment 40 | 50,649 | ||
| County Sheriff | 84,099 | ||
| State Supreme Court Justice No. 2 | 93,641 | ||
| State Supreme Court Justice No. 8 | 97,030 | ||
| State Supreme Court Justice No. 9 | 70,559 |
Pierce Prairie Post 