One week in, nearly 25% of Thurston County voters have already cast their ballots
One week after ballots were mailed in Thurston County, nearly a quarter of registered voters already have completed and returned them, according to data from the Auditor’s Office.
It’s typical for the office to collect a lot of ballots on its first pick-up day, Auditor Mary Hall told The Olympian Friday. What’s not typical is how many ballots they’ve been collecting each day since.
Data shared with The Olympian shows that the office received 15,458 ballots on Monday, its first pick-up day. On the first day of pick-ups in the last Presidential Election year, 2016, the office collected a comparable 14,509.
Since then, the difference has grown.
The auditor’s office received 9,301 ballots Tuesday, a 19% increase over the second pick-up day in 2016. Wednesday saw a 39% increase over the third pick-up day in 2016, and Thursday saw a 47% increase over the fourth.
What’s behind the jump? In part, Hall points to the focus on voting early. With elections officials expecting a record turnout, they’ve been pushing the importance of early returns so there are meaningful results come Election Day.
In the August primary, Hall said 40% of Thurston County ballots were returned on election day and the day before, which prolonged meaningful results.
This time, Thurston County sent its ballots out nearly a week earlier than normal.
Hall theorizes another reason for the high turnout: the sheer amount of attention this election has garnered.
“There’s a lot of attention around this election, like there’s never been before — at least in my career, and I’ve been doing this 24 years,” Hall said.
Thurston County isn’t alone in the trend. According to an Associated Press report Thursday, almost 21 million Americans had already cast their ballots, which amounts to 15% of the votes cast in the 2016 presidential election. Election experts are predicting a record number of votes cast, according to the report.
By the one-week mark after ballots were mailed, 24.5% of registered voters in the Thurston County had turned them back in. The office’s original goal was 20% returned in the first week, but that goal increased to 25% Wednesday, Hall said.
“We’ll easily surpass that today,” she said Friday.
That’s not the only benchmark the office is poised to surpass.
The office also had set a goal to have 200,000 total registered voters in the county this election. In the 2016 General Election, there were just over 175,000 registered Thurston County voters, and there were 190,200 voters registered during this year’s August primary.
As of Friday, Hall said there were over 197,800.
“This is the highest number we’ve ever had in Thurston County,” she said.
She also found a “fascinating” shift in the breakdown of registrations, she said. In the past, the largest age group registered to vote in Thurston County had been people ages 55-64, according to Hall.
State statistics she sent to The Olympian show that’s no longer the case. The largest group of registered voters in Thurston County is now people ages 35-44, and the 25-34 age group is just over 100 voters behind. The 55-64 age group is the third biggest, but trails by a margin of nearly 3,000 voters.
The data includes inactive voters, of which the county has more than 17,400, Hall said. Their inclusion brings the county’s total to over 215,000. Those voters aren’t canceled, she said, but the Auditor’s Office doesn’t know where they live to mail them a ballot.
When you can access drive-thru voter services
As during the primary, the Auditor’s Office is offering drive-thru voter services, such as replacement ballots, at the South Puget Sound Community College Mottman Campus, at 2011 Mottman Road SW in Olympia, instead of at the county courthouse.
The center is scheduled to be open:
- Monday through Friday Oct. 14-30, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.;
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
- Monday, Nov. 2, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and
- Tuesday, Nov. 3 (Election Day), 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 2:01 PM.
.jpg)