With fewer than 25,000 ballots to be counted, you might think some close Pierce County races will be decided in the next day or two. You’d be wrong.

Though most votes have been counted, those that remain – provisional and remade ballots – require careful review, so counting has slowed.

Throw in hundreds of ballots that continue to come in from overseas, out of state or other counties, and it may be a week before we know who will be the next county executive and assessor-treasurer.

Auditor Pat McCarthy, who oversees elections and is herself a candidate for county executive, asked voters to be patient Thursday.

“It’s just like every other close election,” she said. “You just have to wait until all the ballots are counted.”

Since the Nov. 4 election, hundreds of workers – nearly all of them temporary employees – have been counting ballots. The Auditor’s Office worked round the clock for six straight days after the election and has been working 7 a.m. to midnight ever since.

Through Wednesday, workers had counted nearly 312,000 traditional ballots. Those are the ones that feature state and federal races such as governor and president.

Because of Pierce County’s new ranked-choice voting system, this year county offices such as executive and assessor-treasurer appeared on a separate ballot card. So in addition to the traditional ballots, the Auditor’s Office has counted 293,000 ranked-choice voting ballots.

That means election officials are counting nearly twice as many ballot cards as usual in what was already a high-turnout election. So those 25,000 uncounted ballots include about 50,000 ballot cards.

“What’s killing us, timewise, is that second (ballot) card,” said Lori Augino, the auditor’s elections manager.

What’s more, the easy ballots have been counted. What’s left are ballots that must be remade or provisional ballots that must be scrutinized.

As of late Wednesday, the Auditor’s Office was in the process of remaking about 27,000 ballot cards that could not be read by tallying machines.

The reasons vary. Voters may have circled their choice of candidates instead of connecting the arrows on the ballots as required. Or maybe they just spilled coffee on their ballot.

If a voter’s intent is clear, election workers copy the voter’s choices on a new ballot. They work in pairs, checking each other’s work. After a ballot is remade, a second pair of workers checks the first pair’s work.

If there’s any question about the voter’s intent, the ballot will go to the county canvassing board, which convenes Monday. Among other things, the board examines ballots to determine voter intent.

Provisional ballots also get scrutiny. Many of these were cast by people who went to the polls on Election Day but discovered they were not on the voter rolls at a precinct. Other voters may have misplaced their mail-in ballot and went to the polls to vote.

Election workers must verify that each provisional ballot was cast by a registered voter. They verify signatures and addresses and make sure the voter hasn’t cast another ballot.

So far, the county has about 9,800 provisional ballots in hand. The verification process is time consuming enough that the Auditor’s Office doesn’t expect to begin counting provisional ballots until Wednesday.

In addition to these ballots, the Auditor’s Office is contacting about 1,500 voters who failed to sign their ballot or whose signature doesn’t match registration records. Those voters still have a chance to resolve any problems and have their vote count.

The office also is still receiving ballots from county residents who are overseas and out of state – many of whom are in the military. Other ballots are coming in from other counties, where Pierce County residents cast provisional ballots. About 400 ballots arrived Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at least two county races – executive and assessor-treasurer – remain too close to call. The Auditor’s Office today will run ranked-choice voting computer software that tallies voters’ first, second and third choices to produce a winner in those races. But without all of the votes in hand, the counts will be preliminary and the results could change.

The Auditor’s Office won’t run the vote-tallying software again until next Friday. That’s when McCarthy thinks the winners will become apparent.

“We know people are anxious,” McCarthy said. “We know people want results.”

David Wickert: 253-274-7341

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics

COMING SUNDAY

Long lines and slow counting have some saying it’s time to end Pierce County’s brief experiment with ranked-choice voting.

THE COUNT SO FAR

Here are the latest returns – released Thursday – in key local races.

PIERCE COUNTY*

Executive

Shawn Bunney (R) 35.1%

Pat McCarthy (D) 26.3%

Calvin Goings (D) 23.2%

Mike Lonergan (I) 15.2%

Assessor-treasurer (nonpartisan)

Dale Washam 25.0%

Terry Lee 19.15%

Jan Shabro 19.1%

Barbara Gelman 19.1%

Barbara Davidson 10.4%

Bernardo Tuma 6.9%

County Council District 2

Joyce McDonald (R) 50.01%

Al Rose (D) 30.8%

Carolyn Merrival (D) 19.1%

TACOMA

Tacoma Proposition 1 (repeal city council term limits)

Yes 47.7%

No 52.3%

For more returns, visit the Pierce County auditor’s Web site: www.piercecountywa.org/auditor.

LEGISLATURE

2nd District Senate

Marilyn Rasmussen (D) 47.3%

Randi Becker (R) 52.5%

* Includes first-choice votes only.