Ballots mailed for 2015 general election across Washington State

Elec­tions offi­cials across Wash­ing­ton State announced today that bal­lots are in the mail to the vast major­i­ty of the state’s three and half mil­lion reg­is­tered vot­ers, fol­low­ing last mon­th’s dis­tri­b­u­tion of bal­lots to over­seas and mil­i­tary voters.

“This elec­tion may not have the siz­zle of the pres­i­den­tial-year elec­tion like we’ll have in 2016, but we have hun­dreds of local can­di­dates and mea­sures to decide, so it’s a big-deal elec­tion as far as I’m con­cerned,” Sec­re­tary of State Kim Wyman said.

Her office pro­vid­ed some sta­tis­tics on the election:

• In all, there are 3,924 can­di­dates fac­ing off in 3,043 races across the state
• There are total of 166 mea­sures on the bal­lot across the state
• King Coun­ty alone has 460 can­di­dates for 331 offices and 20 mea­sures on the bal­lot [includ­ing two coun­ty­wide measures]

Wyman also not­ed that two major cities, Seat­tle and Yaki­ma, are tran­si­tion­ing to dis­trict-based city coun­cil elec­tions this year.

“I urge vot­ers to take a lit­tle time to study the Vot­ers Pam­phlet, cam­paign mate­ri­als, the online and video Vot­ers Guides, and then cast a bal­lot prompt­ly. You’ll feel good about it and it’s good to remem­ber that self-gov­ern­ment works best when lots of us take part and give our two cents,’ Wyman said.

Wyman is pre­dict­ing statewide turnout of forty-six percent.

King Coun­ty offi­cials think turnout in the state’s largest juris­dic­tion will be above that. They’re fore­cast­ing turnout of forty-eight percent.

“Vot­ing is one of the most impor­tant actions we do as cit­i­zens, so be sure to make it count by get­ting your bal­lot returned on time,” said retir­ing King Coun­ty Elec­tions Direc­tor Sher­ril Huff in a statement.

The dead­line to reg­is­ter by mail or online for this elec­tion has passed. How­ev­er, it’s still pos­si­ble to reg­is­ter in per­son for anoth­er week and half. The dead­line to reg­is­ter in per­son is the close of busi­ness on Mon­day, Octo­ber 26th.

Bal­lots must be returned to post offices or put in out­go­ing mail by the last col­lec­tion time on Novem­ber 3rd, or returned to a drop box no lat­er than 8 PM. King Coun­ty offi­cials want the pub­lic to know they offer per­ma­nent drop box loca­tions, sched­uled bal­lot drop-off vans and Acces­si­ble Vot­ing Cen­ters.

On statewide mea­sures, NPI urges a NO vote on Tim Eyman’s I‑1366, a yes vote on Paul Allen’s I‑1401, and a “Main­tained” vote on Eyman’s push polls (advi­so­ry votes).