Benton County Auditor – March 19, 2026

Greetings,

The Benton County Canvassing Board will be meeting at various times during the April 28, 2026 Special Election cycle.  This is to advise you of the current ballot processing schedule and canvassing board meetings for this election. 

Official L&A test – Thursday, March 26 – 2:00 pm

• Ballot Drop Boxes will be opened – April 7
• Ballots Mailed – April 7
• Ballot Runs will be done on Election Day (April 28) and the day after only due to the size of this election. 
• Signature Verification, Ballot scanning and opening will begin April 28
• May 8 – Certification of the February Special Election @ 9am (we will run through pending challenged items at the same time.

The processing schedule may be modified from time to time depending on the number of ballots received daily.

All election processes will take place at the Benton County Election Center, located at 7122 W. Okanogan Pl., Bldg. F, Kennewick. 

During processing, no persons except those employed and authorized by the county auditor may touch any ballot, ballot container, or vote tallying system.  We also ask that no photos be taken without the approval of the Election Manager.

To determine which processes are being conducted on a given day, we advise that observers contact our office directly.

Please let me know if you should have any questions.