Maybe it’s the sunny weather.
Maybe it’s the timing.
Or maybe it’s the contests and the candidates.
Whatever the reason, voters in Snohomish County are not returning their ballots for the Aug. 7 primary at anywhere near the rate election officials anticipated.
Snohomish County sent out 402,588 ballots and as of this morning only 18,668 ballots had been mailed in or dropped off. As you can see from the chart in this item, that sum is about half of what county election gurus figured to have on hand by now.
Snohomish County isn’t the only place voters are not rushing to get their ballots in. In King County, less than 5 percent had come back as of this morning. You can see its figures here.
There’s no obvious reason for the trickle.
Washington did move up its primary to Aug. 7 and if you combine the earlier date with summer weather, the result could be voters are not thinking about their ballots yet.
Then again, voters may simply be undecided on key races and are taking a bit longer to make up their minds.
For example, look at the race for an open seat in the 1st Congressional District, the majority of which is in the two counties. There are seven candidates competing and in every poll done so far, the percentage of undecided voters is pretty high. Results of one survey released last week found 26 percent had not made a choice.
If there is a reason you haven’t vote yet, let me know. Or if you don’t plan to vote, tell me why not.
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