Three minutes and you’re done.
That’s the message the Secretary of State’s office has sent out to 218,000 potential voters in Washington who appear eligible to vote but haven’t registered yet, including 21,077 in Snohomish County and another 2,338 in Island County.
While registering to vote doesn’t take long, you don’t have much time remaining to do so and be on the rolls to vote in the Nov. 3 election. If you register online or by mail, you have until Monday. Miss that deadline and you’ll have to register in person at the county elections office before Oct. 26.
Last week, Secretary of State Kim Wyman sent out postcards, reaching out to nearly a quarter-million state residents who aren’t registered to vote, asking them to go online to www.sos.wa.gov/elections/myvote/olvr.html. All you need is a Washington state driver’s license or a state identification card. The website above also offers information on registering by mail or in person at county elections offices.
You’re eligible to vote if you:
- Are a U.S. citizen and a Washington state resident;
- Are at least 18 years of age by election day;
- And aren’t under the authority of the Department of Corrections and not disqualified from voting by a court order.
If you’re wondering how the state identified those who appeared eligible to vote but hadn’t registered, the list was generated for the state by the Electric Registration Information Center, a nonprofit organization of member states that is working to improve the accuracy of voter registration lists. The group uses information from state licensing departments and voting records that include name, address, date of birth and the last four digits of one’s Social Security number. Sensitive data, including date of birth and the partial Social Security number are anonymized using encryption to protect privacy.
ERIC uses the data to identify voters who have moved within or outside a state, those who have died, those who have duplicate registrations and potential voters who haven’t registered.
The Secretary of State’s office has been mailing the postcards — at a cost of 23 cents each; about $50,000 this year — for four years. This is the largest such mailing since the program’s first year in 2012 when 1 million potential voters were notified.
“We want every eligible person, including our new 18-year-olds, to get registered and then to vote,”Wyman said in a release. “We truly believe that ‘Your vote is your voice.’?”
That encouragement to register and vote is needed. For the most recent election, August’s primary, less than 1 in 4 registered voters cast a ballot in Snohomish County and statewide. The numbers are generally better for general elections, but, except for presidential election years, still pretty bleak. For the general election in 2014, the turnout was 51 percent in the county and 54 percent statewide and was as low as 41 percent in the county and 45 percent statewide in 2013. Turnout for the last presidential election in 2012 was about 80 percent in the county and the state.
Like 2013, this is an off-year election with no state or national races to attract attention. But don’t buy into the argument that this year’s election isn’t worth your time. On the ballot will be statewide initiatives on taxes and wildlife protection, transportation and other levies and offices for the county executive and other county officials, city councils and mayors, school boards and fire districts, the offices and issues that most directly effect you as a resident of Snohomish County and Washington.
If you’re not registered, as the postcard advises, “Three minutes. Click. You’re done.” If you’re registered to vote, mark your ballot when it comes in the mail later this month and return it.
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