Help shape community by voting today

• Published November 04, 2008

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From the White House to the courthouse, voters in the 2008 general election will shape the future of this nation, state and community as they cast ballots today.

Ballot drop boxes

Ballots for today's general election must carry today's postmark to be counted. Ballots dropped in area mailboxes this evening likely will be rejected as they won't have today's postmark.

To ensure that your vote is counted, drop it into one of 24 ballot boxes scattered around the county before 8 p.m.

In the August primary, 29,490 ballots were returned via drop boxes — 43 percent of all ballots returned. Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman hopes to reach 50 percent in future elections and notes that dropoff locations are easy, convenient, secure and free.

The locations:

• Olympia: Olympia Fire Department, 100 Eastside St. N.E.; Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 1515 Harrison Ave. N.W.; Church of the Good Shepherd, 1601 North St. S.E.; Thurston County Courthouse, 2000 Lakeridge Drive S.W.; west-side Top Food & Drug, 1313 Cooper Point Road S.W.

• Tumwater: Tumwater City Hall, 555 Israel Road S.W.; Tumwater School District, 419 Linwood Ave. S.W.

• Lacey: Lacey City Hall, 420 College St. S.E.; Lacey Fire Station 34, 8407 Steilacoom Road S.E.; Lacey Fire Station 35, 3701 Willamette Drive N.E.; Woodland Retirement Community, 4532 Intelco Loop S.E.; Lacey Top Food & Drug, 5600 Martin Way; Lacey Post Office, 5815 Lacey Boulevard S.E.

• Southwest Thurston County: Rochester Fire Station 1, 18346 Albany St. S.W.; Littlerock Fire Station, 10828 Littlerock Road S.W.; Grand Mound Licensing Agent, 19949 Old Highway 99 S.W.

• Southeast Thurston County: Yelm School District, 110 First St. N.; Rainier City Hall, 102 Rochester St. W.; Lackamas Elementary School, 16240 Bald Hill Road S.E.

South Thurston County: Tenino School District, 301 Old Highway 99; Bucoda, 103 Main St. S.

East and north Thurston County: Black Lake Fire Station, 5911 Black Lake Blvd. S.W.; Steamboat Island Fire Station, 3707 Steamboat Island Road N.W.; South Bay Fire Station, 3506 Shincke Road N.E.

Thousands of South Sound residents already have voted. With an all-mail election, voters must get their ballot to the post office early today or drop it off in one of 24 secure ballot-drop locations before 8 p.m.

National races

The presidential race tops the ballot and has deeply divided the nation. It has been the catalyst for an unprecedented number of new voter registrations and has Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman predicting an 85 percent voter turnout.

Washington has been listed among the states expected to go for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain. But neither candidate has paid much attention to the Evergreen State.

Congressmen Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, and Adam Smith, D-Federal Way, have opponents hoping to deny them a return to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Governorship

Most of the attention statewide is directed at the governor's race, where voters see a rematch from four years ago when Democrat Chris Gregoire beat Republican Dino Rossi by a mere 129 votes — the closest gubernatorial election in state history. Most polls show Rossi and Gregoire evenly matched again. And as we learned from their race in 2004, every single vote is important.

Executive races, initiatives, levies

Voters also will cast ballots on eight executive statewide races. Three Supreme Court justices and one regional appellate court judge are running unopposed.

Three statewide initiatives are on today's ballot: one on transportation spending, another on assisted suicide and the third requiring additional training for long-term care workers.

South Sound voters will decide 11 legislative races for the House and Senate. Incumbents are running in 10 of the 11 contests in the 2nd, 20th, 22nd and 35th legislative districts.

Two Thurston County Commission seats are up for grabs, and in an anomaly, no fewer than one dozen attorneys are vying for the District Court judicial seat vacated by the death of Judge C.L. "Kip" Stilz.

Voters in Lacey Fire District 3 and Tenino Fire District are asked to lift district levy lids while Griffin School District voters will decide a capital and technology modernization levy.

These are weighty issues. And the seriousness and magnitude of the problems facing us cannot be overstated. These issues deserve top thinkers and individuals of action. Help guide the future direction of this community, state and nation by voting today.