Voters’ pamphlets for the May 24 presidential primary came about 10 days before ballots will arrive. State elections officials say that early mailing of the pamphlets helps state efforts to educate voters.
State Elections Director Lori Augino says that the state sent ballots early because officials “like our voters to have plenty of time to study the material before they sit down to vote.”
Counties will mail presidential-primary ballots to registered voters May 5 by first-class mail. Voters’ pamphlets come by bulk mail, which is cheaper but doesn’t get delivered as predictably.
“During the last General Election, the post office had some delays mailing our pamphlets in a few areas, which resulted in some voters’ receiving their pamphlet closer to the date they received their ballot,” Augino said Tuesday. “The secretary of state’s office mails pamphlets roughly a week before ballots are mailed. Not all counties mail ballots on the same day however.”
Voter education for the presidential primary includes information about making a party declaration, something new to Washington.
Snohomish County Auditor Carolyn Weikel added that local voters’ pamphlets for other elections may follow a different schedule. The auditor’s office includes the elections division.
“There is a mailing schedule for local voters’ pamphlets and a different schedule for state voters’ pamphlets”, Weikel said Tuesday. “The schedule for the local pamphlet has not changed — we drop our LVP at the Seattle post office the day before ballots are mailed, and we mail our ballots 19 days before an election. If we partner with the state we try to keep to our LVP schedule as close to ours as possible but the state has the final decision on when the voters’ pamphlet will be mailed.”
County Elections Director Garth Fell said Tuesday that he had heard from a few voters who were confused about getting a voters’ pamphlet for the May 24 presidential primary before they had voted in the April 26 special election.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.
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