South County voters returning primary ballots slowly

Published 1:55 pm Thursday, August 1, 2013

South Snohomish County voters are returning their ballots at a slower rate than voters in the rest of the county, despite primary contests in Lynnwood and in the unincorporated areas of Snohomish County Fire District 1.

Lynnwood, with contested races for mayor and three City Council positions, had a ballot-return rate through Thursday morning of 9.98 percent, compared to a countywide average of 11.49 percent.

Lynnwood has a four-way contest for mayor, one four-way primary contest for a council position and three-way primary contests for each of two council positions.

Fire District 1, with one primary contest, had a lower return rate — 8.57 percent.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com