NEWS BRIEFS: Spokane County sends supplemental ballots to some after boundary errors 6%

By Inlander Staff14%

7/30/2026, 1:30:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Recency Bias, and Biased Writer Voice, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 13.7% saturation with 71 hits. Analysis detected 283 faulty-reasoning hits from 519 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 16.3% and a BS Rank of 6% (24,821 of 26,281 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 94.40% of the article peer group.

Over the last week, the Spokane County Elections Office has announced three boundary errors that caused voters to receive primary ballots with missing measures. 
In Airway Heights, ballots were missing the Spokane County Library District levy, and in a tiny precinct in north Spokane, ballots were missing the Spokane Transit Authority sales tax question. 
Later, it was discovered that about 800 voters south of Spokane International Airport got ballots without the West Plains Aquifer Protection District question. 
Supplemental ballots have been mailed to affected voters, who should return both their original ballot and the supplemental one that only includes the missing question. 
“It is disheartening to have a third issue with boundary lines. 
I recognize that this creates concern for both voters and for the districts,” Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton stated. 
“After this election is completed, my office will review all boundary lines of districts that place only tax issues on the ballot.” 
(COLTON RASANEN) 
TAKING IT BACK 
Though it seemed there was finally some closure last year in the case of four college students who were murdered in Moscow in 2022, on Monday this week, the New York Times reported that the man who pleaded guilty plans to challenge his conviction. 
The Times reported that in an exclusive interview, Bryan Kohberger told the paper that he intends to ask Idaho to reopen the case and try him, even if that means putting the death penalty back on the table. 
When a judge asked Kohberger last July if he was pleading guilty before trial because he was guilty, he answered “yes,” and was subsequently sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in prison, according to multiple news reports. 
The Times states that he is now questioning the effectiveness of his legal defense and claims he is actually innocent. 
The family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four victims (who also included Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen), sent KXLY a statement noting the Times’ story “had little else to offer beyond a guilty man once again claiming he is innocent.” 
(SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL) 
PROTEST PROTOCOLS 
Last week, the Office of the Police Ombuds for the city of Spokane released an extensive 167-page report into the city’s police response to the protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity last June. 
Requested by Mayor Lisa Brown and Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall, the ombuds report on Spokane’s 2025 ICE protest response includes 26 recommendations for police, including updating policies for crowd management and the use of “less lethal” crowd dispersal materials, creating protocol for immigration enforcement response, and clarifying how officers should respond during major gatherings with First Amendment protections. 
“SPD has taken several proactive steps consistent with many of the OPO’s recommendations before the report was published. 
Those include strengthening the Dialogue Team within the Department, procuring ‘Spokane Police’ back identification panels, clarifying use of force reporting, and updating officer masking policies to better identify department members,” according to a joint statement from Hall and Brown on July 21. 
The full report can be found at my.spokanecity.org/opo. 
(SW) 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 1.7%inlander.com: 1.1%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.4%inlander.com: 0.3%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 1.2%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.5%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.2%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.7%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 2.8%inlander.com: 1.9%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.1%inlander.com: 0.4%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 1.6%inlander.com: 2.2%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.4%inlander.com: 0.6%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 10.4%Inlander Staff: 4.9%inlander.com: 3.0%Negativity Bias10.4%This article: 3.5%Inlander Staff: 1.0%inlander.com: 0.8%Self-Serving Bias3.5%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.3%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.1%inlander.com: 1.1%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 8.1%Inlander Staff: 0.8%inlander.com: 1.2%Halo Effect8.1%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 8.5%Inlander Staff: 3.0%inlander.com: 0.6%Recency Bias8.5%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.5%inlander.com: 1.3%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.4%inlander.com: 0.6%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.4%inlander.com: 2.4%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.3%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 2.1%Inlander Staff: 3.6%inlander.com: 1.6%Appeal to Emotion2.1%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 1.6%inlander.com: 0.3%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 1.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.8%inlander.com: 0.2%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.6%inlander.com: 1.7%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 13.7%Inlander Staff: 1.3%inlander.com: 0.4%Unattributed Quote13.7%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 1.4%inlander.com: 0.3%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 8.3%Inlander Staff: 1.4%inlander.com: 2.8%Biased Writer Voice8.3%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.5%inlander.com: 1.2%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 0.0%inlander.com: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Inlander Staff: 1.6%inlander.com: 2.8%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

519 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers14%attributed speech444writer words
Selected voice

Vicky Dalton

0%flagged-word coverage
41 attributed words55% of attributed speech36% writer coverage
0%10.0%20.0%Unattributed Quote-16.0 ptsWriter: 16.0%Vicky Dalton: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-9.7 ptsWriter: 9.7%Vicky Dalton: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.