An estimated 3 million Washington voters will choose who they want to be president this Election Day. But 11 state residents will actually have a direct say in the choice.

Either Snohomish Democrat Mary Ervin or Bothell Republican John Bush will be among them.

The two are electors, members of the Electoral College that is the U.S. Constitution’s divining rod for deciding who leads this nation. Which of them votes depends on which party’s candidate wins the popular vote in the state.

If Sen. John Kerry wins the popular vote in Washington state as opinion polls predict, a slate of Democratic electors, including Ervin, will cast ballots.

“This would be a really, really big honor,” said Ervin, 63, a retired surgical nurse. “And it’s a big responsibility.”

If President Bush is the victor in the state, then the GOP slate with John Bush gets the task.

“It’s exciting,” said Bush, a computer consultant. “I have this ambition when I retire that I want to teach history, and I think this is a good experience to pass on.”

Polls are open 7 a.m.-8 p.m. today. The first results of all races, that of absentee ballots already received, will be announced by 8:30 p.m. Absentees must be postmarked by today to be counted.

Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger predicts about 84 percent of the county’s 352,000 registered voters will take part this election. Nearly two-thirds of them vote by mail and by Monday 126,144 absentee ballots had been turned in for counting

Voters should brace for lines at many of the county’s 143 polling places if they go before or after work because those are the busiest hours. They also may see crowds of poll watchers and legal observers. The intensity and closeness of the presidential campaign stepped up monitoring by Democratic and Republicans parties and an array of political interest groups.

In the presidential race, today’s results do not guarantee who will be president. That lies with the Electoral College. Democrat Al Gore learned the lesson in 2000 when he won more popular votes nationwide but did not win enough electoral votes to be elected.

There are 538 electoral votes at stake and 270 are needed to be president.

In each state, electors are apportioned one for each senator and one for each member of the House of Representatives. In Washington, that adds up to 11.

During the Democratic caucuses, Ervin won election as the 2nd Congressional District elector. Similar to picking delegates to the national convention, Ervin had to announce she was interested in being an elector and spoke to the delegates about that before being selected.

John Bush was picked in a similar way as the 1st District elector for the Republican Party at the GOP’s state convention.

Ervin said she’s honored to be an elector but she opposes the winner-take-all philosophy that gives all of a state’s electors to whoever wins the most votes in that state. She’d prefer to split the total in line with the percentage of votes each candidate receives.

Todd Donovan, a Western Washington University instructor and Ervin’s alternate, said eliminating the college is the best option.

“The Electoral College stands out as a big sore thumb as a way of counting votes,” said Donovan, who teaches about electoral systems.