Election Sites Down During Critical Peak Voting

PDC and King County websites slowed or crashed in the final days of voting, leaving many voters without access to essential transparency tools.

Staff Writer

Nov 03, 2025 - 2 min read

[Editor’s note: The King County Elections and PDC websites continue to have intermittent outages and slowdowns as this story goes live]

Burien WA - In the final week leading up to Election Day on Tuesday, November 4, voters across King County reported difficulty accessing two key election transparency tools: the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) website and the King County Elections website, since Wednesday, Oct 29th.

Highline Journal readers told us they tried repeatedly to review candidate donations and spending reports on the PDC site but could not access the pages.

*The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) posted a notice that its website was experiencing slow loading and technical issues.*

The PDC confirmed the problem on its homepage:

“The PDC is aware of an issue that is causing data on its website to load slowly. We have alerted the state’s open data vendor and are urging it to find the root cause.”

At the same time, the King County Elections website has been intermittently down over the past week, with voters reporting repeated access problems. On many days, the site displayed an error message and became temporarily unavailable, preventing users from viewing candidate statements, drop box locations, and managing their voter details. The site was restored later each time, but continues to experience technical difficulties during this critical voting period.

*King County Elections website displaying an error message during the final week of voting.*

Why Transparency Matters to Voters

The PDC website lets the public see where campaign money comes from and whether contributions are local or from unions, PACs, businesses, or outside organizations. Many voters say this information affects how they vote.

*The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) website PDC.wa states "Here's your chance to follow the money."*

One local resident told the Highline Journal:

“It’s unbelievable how much money is coming from outside the area for many of the candidates. People just don’t know, and if they do know where to look, now the systems are down.”

When voters cannot access finance reports or candidate statements, they lose the ability to see who is backing campaigns and ballot measures. That access is a core part of Washington’s transparency system, especially in the final days before Election Day.

Voters who experience access problems can refer to the printed voter pamphlet delivered statewide, or contact King County Elections for assistance with ballot information and drop box locations. Email: customerservice@kingcounty.gov