You Can Still Vote!

Tomorrow marks yet another “most important election of our lifetimes.” And to be fair, it is pretty important. We get to pick a Governor between the Democrat’s heir apparent and the guy who definitely did not solve the Green River killer case. We have the chance to tell Council appointee Tanya Woo “no” for the second time. We could vote away hundreds of millions in education funding if enough people fall for Let’s Go Washington’s phony populist schtick, and this might be the last time you ever vote for President! Want to get in on the action? Turn in your ballot by 8pm Tuesday, November 5!

According to King County Elections’ (KCE) ballot return statistics, many of you already turned yours in. As of 9am Monday, 50% of King County’s 1.4 million registered voters cast a ballot. That’s a much higher engagement rate than in typical odd-year elections, where less than half of registered voters usually participate. However, turnout still falls short of the nearly 86% we saw in 2020.

Young people need to pick up the slack. About 21% of registered voters are 65 or older, but with a whopping 71% of those voters turning in a ballot, they make up 30% of the returned ballots. As for voters under 35, they account for 28% of all registered voters, but make up only about 19% of the returned ballots. Young people: You tend to vote better than old people. Sorry, not sorry. Please get to the ballot box!

First step, you need to register. You can check here to see if you already are. 

If you’re not registered, it is unfortunately too late to register to vote by mail. However, you can still register and vote at one of seven voting centers in the county, which are all open today until 6pm and then 8:30am to 8pm on election day. Remember to bring your Washington State driver’s license, and a state ID, or memorize the last four digits of your social security number when you go. 

If you’re already registered to vote, awesome. The ballot should be in your mailbox unless you took it out and put it somewhere weird. I can’t help you find it in your own home. Well, maybe if you send me a nice email I would. 

But if you really can’t find it, you can print out a new one, or go vote in person at a King County voting center.

Once you have your ballot in hand, you can check out our endorsements to figure out who you should vote for if you’re even a centimeter left of center. If you’re in a hurry — I know some of you are reading this at 7:30pm — you can read this cheat sheet. 

Then, put the ballot in the envelope, give it a lil lick, seal it, sign it, and then I recommend going to a drop box rather than banking on the USPS post marking it in time. You can find your nearest drop box here. 

Login here to track your ballot and make sure it gets counted. If election counters “challenge” your signature, you can correct it here. 

Last, I’d suggest buying yourself a lil drink. You’re gonna need it.