A procrastinator’s guide to voting in Thurston County
Election Day is here. Still haven’t got your ballot in? You have until 8 p.m.
Do you need a new ballot? Need to correct a vote on your ballot? Here are the answers to those questions and more: https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/faq_vote_by_mail.aspx
On the ballot are statewide initiatives on a carbon fee for polluters, restrictions on gun sales, changes to state law on the use of deadly force by police, and an effort to block future taxes on groceries like Seattle’s soda tax.
There are also races for U.S. Senate and House and the state Legislature.
Closer to home, there are contested races for Thurston County commissioner, prosecutor and auditor, along with local measures on a sales tax increase for public transportation and efforts in Lacey and Tumwater to create tax districts for parks similar to Olympia’s.
As of Monday, turnout in Thurston County was at 42 percent, with 76,769 ballots out of 181,310 received. That’s a higher turnout the day before the election than what the county saw in the past two midterms in 2010 and 2014.
If you have not received your ballot or you need a replacement ballot, call the Thurston County Auditor’s Office at 360-786-5408.
If you sent in your ballot and want to make sure it was received, you can do that at MyVote.wa.gov. You can also print out a new ballot there.
More last-minute tips from the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections in the state:
▪ Make sure you sign and date your ballot return envelope. Election officials check that the signature matches the voter registration record.
▪ Be suspicious of calls claiming to help you fill out your ballot.
▪ Ballots that are mailed must be postmarked by Election Day. The ballot return envelope has free postage for this election, but a late postmark could disqualify your ballot.
▪ On Election Day, the Secretary of State’s Office recommends using a drop box — find the nearest one to you at MyVote.wa.gov — or taking your ballot in its return envelope directly to a post office and having them date the envelope in front of you.
This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 9:30 AM.