As of Sunday night, voter turnout was still pretty low for Seattle and King County primary elections. Only 13.86 percent of countywide ballots had been received by the elections department, compared with 14.20 percent in Seattle.
Still, elections officials are standing by their prediction of a 33 percent turnout rate and expect 50,000 to 60,000 ballots to arrive in the mail on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as a lot more today and tomorrow. So far 151,447 ballots have been cast.
Want some fun trends? The stats show that rich people are voting. The five richest places in the state (Hunts Point, Medina, Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point, and Beaux Arts Village) are all at or above 20 percent turnout so far. But people from more rural areas aren’t. Algona, Covington, Duvall, Snoqualmie, and Sammamish (Dino Rossi’s home town) are all below 11 percent.
Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, August 18, or dropped off at a ballot box (locations here) by 8 p.m.
This is why old people get to decide for you.
Cause you’re too LAZY.
If they are the only ones to vote, you’ll be looking at a choice between a radical extremist right winger Susan H and a right of center Ross Hunter for KC Exec, and the two most conservative candidates for Seattle Mayor.
In which case you really won’t have a choice.
But hey, whine about how you were too busy …
I will fill out my ballot tonight. YEESH.
I believe rates in Medina and Beaux Arts are so high because they have their servants vote for them.
I just mailed mine today. And yes… because I’m lazy. Fuck you.
I don’t understand this whole mail only crap. Every time I’ve sent in my ballot they’ve told me my signature is wrong. I assure them I did vote for myself, they tell me that I need to fill out paperwork that they’ll send me and it never comes. I don’t get a vote anymore, thanks king county for taking my vote away! It also puts a tax on voting, now I need a stamp to send the government it’s own letter? Forget that crap, it’s way too much of a hassle to vote by mail, I’d much rather set a time to go to a building and vote, but since I’m handi-capable I can no longer participate in this part of democracy.
I will however vote in the real election, where we have real ballots at real polling places. If people should be allowed to vote by mail I should be able to vote from the internet. Plus absolutely no candidate for anything is talking about anything I care about, so my votes will largely be symbolic of the person who might best do the job, but as of right now I can’t think of a single candidate doing anything I’m excited for. Of course rich people are voting more, put a 44 cent tax on democracy and watch the poor disappear!
Its a little known and little publicized fact that you can put your ballot in the mailbox without a stamp and King County Elections will pay for the postage. This is also the reason for the many ballot drop boxes around town, no postage necessary: http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/voti…. Here is where you can find the signature update form: http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/abs…
I’d love to see the Republicans take over this state; just for shits and giggles. I mean the day it happened I am fucking out of here mind you. But the Slog entries after that happens: PRICELESS!!
The voter turnout levels are ridiculous. However, I would rather 20% of the population vote for candidates they know and support, rather than 60% of the population just voting at random. [Those percentages were randomly generated].
Maybe it’s because some of us are still trying to make up our minds who to vote for? And, hello?! the ballots aren’t due until tomorrow, so what’s the rush?
Geez, mellow out already. Go have a cupcake or some ice cream…
Thanks @6.
Just go eenie meanie miny moe for Port 6 race – that’s what I did.
Could the votes from more rural areas be lagging behind because mail from those areas takes longer to arrive?
Um, dude, the USPS delivers mail the next day in 90 percent of America.
Kind of doubt it, @11.
This is the first time I’ve been forced to vote by mail and I hate it. I filled out my ballot the day I received it and it’s STILL sitting by the door to get taken to the fucking mail drop. Yeah, I could put it in my own mailbox with a stamp and trust it gets there, but I don’t trust US mail for my vote. Under the old system I just took the time to drive 1/2 mile through my neighborhood to my polling place on election day, and had the fun of having a civic experience with other voters. (If Tuesday wasn’t a work day and I could spare the extra 30 minute round trip, I’d have walked.) Now I have to drive 4 miles to the nearest drop box on a road thick with traffic and construction at all hours of the day, and it all happens at a soul-sucking, democracy-crushing strip mall. Yeah, that’s more convenient.
You can bet the reason rural voting rates are so low is that their drop boxes are even more out of the way than my suburban drop box is.
@6, little publicized please. It lists all of the drop box locations with the materials that come with your ballot. The information is exactly where it needs to be.
@5 I got sent a signature verification form also. Methinks the person doing that job is overzealous or filling some sort of silly quota. Annoying, but at least the postage for mailing the form back was prepaid.
Everyone: check to make sure your mail-in ballot was counted online: https://info.kingcounty.gov/elections/ma…
Who has a perfect voting record? Me.
(though my wife was the one who got the postcard from the Stranger)