Turnout in King County for the primary yesterday (August 2nd) - 18.8%

[LisaM]

This is unacceptable. I don't think the mail-in voting is working.

[Aristus]

1. Don't we have to wait for the mail-in ballots to be counted?

Won't that up the percentage?

[LisaM]

2. I went by the percantages at the Washington state voting site

Last edited Wed Aug 3, 2016, 08:24 PM - Edit history (1)

It showed about 40,000 uncounted ballots, but I don't know about ballots actually mailed yesterday. Even if it inches up, it's still dismal.

[GP6971]

3. Pierce County

at 18.42%.

[bluedye33139]

4. Agreed. I like the idea of mail-in ballots

But I worry whether a lot of us miss the deadlines because we get an envelope in the mail and there isn't a public hoopla about it

[LisaM]

5. Too few dropoff boxes, also.

I walked mine over to the King County building at lunch. It's not a big problem for me, but I figured it was a mile walk total - unacceptable for a disabled person, someone on crutches, etc.

There is also a problem they don't discuss - spoiled ballots. I read somewhere that there were 35,000 spoiled ballots in one election. I've written King County elections to try and find out where this information is easily available to the public (the number of spoiled ballots). Onsite, you can correct it - if you over-vote a race, the machine should spit it back, you can get an affidavit for a mis-matched signature, etc. Once you've let go of the ballot, though, there's no way to fix it.

I never liked vote by mail anyway, but I think it's actually depressing turnout. Say you got to work, realized you didn't have your ballot - previously, you could just go vote after work. Now you have to find a post office that's open.

[bluedye33139]

6. I thought it would be better but I myself have missed one or two elections by forgetfulness

[angrychair]

7. Don't kid yourselves

The average for the whole state may edge up near 21% but unlikely. Our candidates for November, here in Washington, was chosen by 20% of registered voters.
Why?
It's voter apathy and a near collapse in faith in the system.
I live in Washington. I see and hear it all time. It is also not unique to Washington. Pick almost any state, especially in a mid-term, the numbers are deplorable.

Politicians don't really care, especially incumbents, as it makes hitting that magic number to get (re)elected easier.

[pscot]

8. Turnout in Island county was just over 35%

One of our lege seats had no Democrat running. With 3000 new conservative voters headed our way i suspect it's going to get a lot tougher for Democrats to win local elections up here.