As a bipartisan, reach-across-the-aisle endeavor, I am accepting my republican neighbors' ballots, affixing the necessary postage, and placing them in the mail.... eventually.

Drop Box

We used left over stamps from mailing out wedding invites. seemed appropriate.

The goofy thing about The Stranger's ginned-up Stampocolypse faux-troversey is that it would cost you three or four times as much to take the bus to a polling place than to mail a ballot. Even at the ruinous rate of $0.65.

Also, compare US postage to the rest of the world, and then shut up about this. It's silly and wrong.

So why does it cost $0.65 in Franklin and Kitsap counties?

Or you could not be a cheapskate and just pay for the stamp. Government revenue is already too low, as most readers of this blog would agree, so why go around abusing loopholes instead of just paying your fair share? Even if it's legal, it's kind of lame.

Or you could have gone to the Stranger Voting Party and put your ballon in the box, helpfully guarded by Foot Locker refs. No stamp needed. Of course the cost of drinks, gas to get there and tips could have been spent on stamps to vote for the rest of your life, but that is a trivial matter. Voting in a bar while partying was more than worth it.

@8 FYI, I checked King County Elections' ballot tracker, and the ballot I deposited with the Bus at the Stranger's voting party has safely arrived at elections.

@9

I wonder how many idiots will imitate your pointless stunt. Enough to elect McKenna? Genius.

@6 - In Kitsap, the voting equipment requires ballots with heavier cardstock. That and the long list of measures/candidates pushed it over the line. Usually it is just one stamp.

Dropped mine off at the ballot box at the fire station on Saturday and saw it received on Monday.

I won't put a stamp on my ballot on general principle. Voting is a right of citizenship that should cost nothing and be subject to no poll tax. I also don't trust my ballot to be delivered correctly without postage. So I drive to a ballot drop box every year, probably spending about as much in gas costs as a stamp would cost me.

@12 - yea, because the gas, oil, and wear-and-tear on your car is nothing, but a stamp is an excessive poll tax. Right.

Goldy - just bear in mind, King County Elections is funded through the general fund. It's been years since there have not been cuts to the general fund. Everything Elections does has come under scrutiny. For a time, there were practically no drop boxes. There was a proposal from Sherill Huff to not allow changes in the general election voters pamphlet, and just go with text used for the primary (the Council nixed that idea). People are not hired in Elections. So sure, go ahead, and don't splurge on that stamp, and advocate for others to do the same. But it'll come back and bite you in the end.

Support your United States Postal Service (the best, most efficient, and most affordable delivery service in the world) ... use stamps on your mailed ballot.

@13 I'm not advocating not using postage. I'm just making it clear that want of a stamp is not an excuse not to vote.

Long Live Snail Mail!
Use a stamp and keep the humans employed.

Part of the calculations of the cost-cutting benefit of eliminating traditional polling stations should have been the cost of ensuring delivery by providing certified mailing.

Here (http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northw…) is a oregon newspaper that has more details the USPS's position on not using a stamp.

I feel sorry for the thousands of people who got ballots with wrong info or two ballots or no ballot at all. I just wish Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed would stop fucking around with this election to suppress votes. If only he spent less time taking funds out of Heritage Center to give to GOP and fund his Republican protege Kim Wyman... As it stands, the only things we've seen Sam Reed DO this year have resulted in massive confusion, wasting of tax-payer money, and rework. And this is the same guy who said he didn't have enough money for printed pamphlets in the primary. Pathetic.