Get ballots in to ensure they're counted

By Steve Powell | The Olympian • Published October 31, 2008

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Voters who haven't received their ballots in the mail need to call the auditor's office at 360-786-5408, elections manager Steve Homan said Thursday.

If you go to the polls that you went to four years ago, you will see a sign directing you to the Thurston County Courthouse, where you will be able to vote, but you probably will have to wait in a long line, Homan said.

If you use the mail to return your ballot, Homan suggests mailing it soon. It needs to be postmarked by Tuesday to count, and with weekend mail going to Seattle and weekday mail to Tacoma — instead of staying local, as in the past — it can be unpredictable, he said.

"If it was me using the postal service, I'd send it out over the weekend," Homan said.

Ballots also can be dropped off at various secured boxes around the county until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Homan said a regular election has about 50 percent turnout, but presidential elections have about 90 percent turnout. He said the office has tried to get the word out about the mail-in ballots, but some people still are asking about the polls.

Homan said that as of mid-Thursday, the elections office had received about 63,200 ballots, a turnout of 43 percent. The office will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to assist voters who need a replacement ballot.

The election office has received a record 1,000 e-mail ballots back that it had sent to residents overseas, such as for those in the military, students or people on missions.

Efforts also are being made to make sure that those who shouldn't vote don't.

To make sure people who have died don't vote, workers in the auditor's office go through obituaries in the newspaper to cancel those people off of the voting roles.

"Once the ballots go out, that's a little harder to do," Homan said.