About 47% of Thurston County voters had cast their ballots as of Thursday
A steady stream of votes was still flowing in Thurston County two weeks after ballots were mailed to voters. As of Thursday, Oct. 22, just under 47% of active voters had cast their ballots, Auditor’s Office data showed.
That’s up from the nearly 25% of voters who had returned their ballots one week prior. By the same pick-up day during the 2016 General Election, the county had collected ballots from just over 41% of voters, according to county data.
State ballot return statistics show turnout statewide was at 33% Thursday, and Thurston, where ballots were mailed to voters Oct. 8, was the county with the fourth-highest turnout so far.
The counties ahead of Thurston are home to significantly fewer registered voters. Returns were at 54.3% in Ferry County (5,140 voters), 51.7% in Columbia County (2,809 voters), and 49.5% in Pacific County (16,530 voters).
Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall told The Olympian Friday her enthusiasm for the high turnout hasn’t waned, and she predicted Thursday night’s presidential debate would spur more ballot returns over the weekend.
“I really hope that people are getting the message to turn their ballot in early if they know who they’re voting for,” she said. The more ballots can be counted on Election Day, the more meaningful initial results will be, she said.
Voters who haven’t received a ballot are asked to call the Auditor’s Elections team at 360-786-5408.
Registrations are still climbing
The actual number of ballots returned as of Thursday — 93,655 — is 30% higher than the same point in 2016, because so many more voters have registered since then. The county is fast approaching the Auditor’s Office’s goal of 200,000 active registered voters.
As The Olympian has previously reported, just over 175,000 Thurston County voters were registered for the 2016 General Election. Thursday’s data show 199,356 active voters, and Hall told The Olympian Friday morning that 93 additional people had registered since that count.
People who haven’t registered can do so remotely, including at votewa.gov or by mail, until Monday, Oct. 26. After that, voters can register in person through 8 p.m. Nov. 3 (Election Day) at the Voter Services drive-thru at South Puget Sound Community College’s Olympia Campus at 2011 Mottman Road SW.
Have questions about the election?
The Olympian answered several readers’ questions about voting and election security in Thurston County in a recent Q&A with Auditor Hall. The Auditor’s Office announced this week that it also will hold a virtual town hall Monday, Oct. 26, with Hall and Thurston County Elections Manager Tillie Naputi-Pullar.
The hour-long event is scheduled to take place on Zoom at 5:30 p.m. Monday. According to the office’s press release about the event, attendees can sign in here: https://zoom.us/j/92562828937?pwd=L0ZoSXFqUkR0RnlraGY0R21Cd1Nrdz09 .
Questions can be submitted during the event in the chat, or ahead of time via email to tcauditor@co.thurston.wa.us.
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 1:14 PM.
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