King County certifies August election; only one fourth of registered voters turned out

King County today certified the results of the August 2015 Top Two election as required by state law. Final turnout was a measly twenty-five percent. Though there were three countywide positions on the ballot, only one fourth of the county’s registered voters bothered to return ballots on time.

Because only one out of four voters voted in this election, the decisions about who to send on to November were effectively made by a few instead of by the many. That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.

Here are several vital statistics for the just-concluded election:

• Registered voters: 1,183,771
• Ballots issued: 1,206,231
• Ballots returned: 295,181
• Ballots counted: 289,596
• Ballots cast on AVUs: 98
• Ballots returned to drop boxes: 56,842
• Signatures initially challenged: 3,198
• Signature challenges resolved: 1,685
• Returned too late: 3,951
• Returned as undeliverable: 10,998
• Calls to voter hotline: 2,690
• Emails from voters: 560

The next election will be the general election. Ballots will be mailed in mid-September to military and overseas voters. Everyone else will be sent a ballot in mid-October. The election will conclude on November 3rd, 2015.