EVERETT — As they battle for delegates in Washington, GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich already may have picked up a vote or two in the state’s presidential primary.
Voters who are in the military and living overseas received ballots for the May 24 election last week and some of the roughly 65,000 recipients have returned theirs.
Snohomish County issued 4,869, said Garth Fell, the county elections and recording manager. By Monday morning, 20 ballots had arrived, of which 14 came from Democrats and six from Republicans, he said.
The quick response by these voters indicates the level of interest this year’s campaign is inciting, County Auditor Carolyn Weikel said.
“People are paying attention because of all the attention and tension going on towards the candidates and amongst the candidates,” she said.
Federal law requires ballots be sent to voters overseas, including Peace Corps volunteers, missionaries, business people and other Washington residents living abroad, 45 days before Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Ballots will be sent to the rest of the state’s 4 million voters by May 5. They must be returned or postmarked by May 24 to be counted.
This election is of critical importance to Republicans because the results will be used to allocate the party’s 44 delegates among Trump, Cruz and Kasich.
The Democratic Party relies on caucuses to apportion its delegates and will ignore the primary results. Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the party’s March 26 caucuses.
“Thanks to this year’s exciting and highly competitive GOP presidential race, our state will be at the center of the action in May,” said Steve Beren, director of new media and technology for the state Republican Party. “We expect national media attention and campaigning by GOP presidential candidates as our May 24 primary approaches.”
The way the rules are written, all three Republican candidates could walk away with delegates.
Fourteen will be distributed based on a candidate’s percentage of the final statewide tally. Candidates must get at least 20 percent to qualify for any of this batch of delegates.
The remaining 30 will be distributed on a basis of three delegates per each of the 10 congressional districts.
If a candidate receives more than half the vote cast in a congressional district, he will receive all three delegates. If no candidate wins a majority but two of them finish with more than 20 percent, the top vote-getter gets two delegates and the second place candidate gets one. And if all three candidates receive at least 20 percent of the vote in a congressional district, each will get one of the district’s delegates.
The Secretary of State’s Office, which could not persuade the Democratic Party to hold the primary earlier and use the results for deciding delegates, has estimated the election will cost state taxpayers $11.5 million.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623;
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