If 85 percent of Snohomish County voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s general election as predicted, it will be the highest turnout since World War II and the Great Depression.
Four days before the election, county election officials remain confident in the estimate they made in mid-October.
“We are right about where we are expected to be for an 85 percent turnout,” said Garth Fell, the county elections director. “It has been very interesting to us that our returns have met the predicted trends.”
As of Friday, 139,848 of the county’s 376,221 registered voters — 37.17 percent — had returned ballots. Roughly another 11,000 ballots that were deposited Thursday at voter drop-off boxes across the county would push that total to about 40 percent. It was the highest first-day return the county has ever received at its drop-off sites, Fell said.
A survey of counties by the state elections division earlier this month showed a collective prediction of 85 percent for the statewide turnout. Six county auditors said they expect to top the 90 percent mark. Those counties are Columbia, Island, Jefferson, Lincoln, San Juan and Wahkiakum.
Washington’s Secretary of State Sam Reed is predicting an 83 percent turnout statewide among the state’s 3.6 million registered voters. That would be Washington’s best showing in more than 60 years.
Reed’s estimate is based on a high degree of interest in the top races and assorted state and local ballot measures, the recent surge in registrations, increasingly heavy use of vote-by mail and the forecasts from the county auditors.
Snohomish County also had a dramatic jump in voter registration in September and October. There are now 24,570 more registered voters in the county since the August primary. Roughly 1,000 people registered at the county auditor’s office on the Oct. 20 deadline day to be eligible for Tuesday’s election.
“I think the get-out-the-vote efforts the campaigns are doing and our office is doing have paid off,” Fell said.
Even so, there are thousands of people who are eligible to vote in the county who are not registered, he said. Typically, that percentage is between 20 percent and 25 percent.
Statewide, 78 percent of the eligible voting age population is registered, according to the secretary of state’s office.
The statewide general election turnout average since 1936 is 78.85 percent, according to the state Secretary of State’s office. The previous record in modern times was 84.5 percent in 1944.
Snohomish County’s highest percentage turnout was in 1932 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was first elected. It came close to that mark in 1944 during World War II, with an 87.3 percent turnout. The next-greatest turnout was four years ago.
The county’s lowest percentage turnout was in 1972 when President Nixon was re-elected.
Although the return of ballots has come in closely to how county election officials have predicted, there have been a few surprises.
“We have received some ballots from the primary and other elections,” Fell said. “It’s a handful, but you always wonder.”
The auditor’s office also has a quick way for voters to confirm that their mailed ballots have been received at web5.co.snohomish.wa.us/auditorapps/AVBallots/AVBallot.aspx.
Ballots must be postmarked or returned to the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office by Tuesday.
A list of community collection centers and accessible voting sites is included with each ballot. Times and locations are also available in the Voters’ Pamphlet and on the Snohomish County Web site (www.snoco.org).
Ballots may also be brought to the county auditor’s office at 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. The auditor’s office is open during normal business hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additional hours will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today; from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
For election-related questions, call the county elections office at 425-388-3444.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.
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