Readers, a reminder that today is the last day of the August 2021 Top Two Election, the elimination round of our dysfunctional two-part general election system. Ballots must be postmarked or returned by a drop box by 8 PM tonight, or they won’t count. Be sure yours is in, and then remind friends and family to vote, too. Chances are, many of them haven’t. Don’t assume – ask!
Participation so far in this election has been pretty low. As of yesterday evening statewide turnout stood at 17.36%. That’s below where turnout was at the comparable point two years ago, on the eve of the August 2019 Top Two election. That means we’ll need higher final-day turnout just to be on par with what turnout was two years ago when it was in the high twenties.
The team at NPI urges you to be a voter and get your ballot in.
If you would like to use a drop box to return your ballot, which we strongly recommend — Louis DeJoy’s sabotage of the United States Postal Service has made USPS less reliable — here is a list of locations for major counties:
- King County
- Snohomish County
- Pierce County
- Whatcom County
- Skagit County
- Thurston County
- Spokane County
- Clark County
Need help voting? NPI doesn’t endorse or rate candidates for office, but the Progressive Voter’s Guide is available if you want to learn more about who’s on your ballot. You can also use the official voter’s pamphlet published by your county. And for judicial races, there’s VotingForJudges.org.
Starting tonight, after 8 PM, we will be offering live coverage of election results here on the Cascadia Advocate. Most counties will only report one batch of results tonight, and not update again till tomorrow afternoon.
We will be watching a number of races closely, particularly the Seattle citywide races, the King County Best Starts for Kids levy, and also council races in cities like Bellevue, Spokane, Sequim, and Vancouver.