Mill Creek has maintained its status as the city with the highest percentage of absentee voters in Snohomish County, with 57 percent this year choosing to vote absentee.
Second in line is Edmonds, with 55 percent absentees and Brier, with 53 percent.
Voters do not write in specific reasons for voting absentee. But Mill Creek is mainly a residential community, with most residents commuting to work to larger metropolitan areas such as Everett, Seattle, and the Eastside, according to the Northshore Chamber of Commerce. Unpredictable traffic on commutes suggests one reason voters may choose the absentee option in Mill Creek.
Absentee voters receive a ballot in the mail, giving them the ability to vote at their leisure, and well before polling places are open. Ballots are returned in a signed envelope, which is sealed within a mailing envelope. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by election day.
Although voters can choose to vote early if they are absentees, the early bird method is not the norm. On Tuesday, Sept. 10, about 20 percent of the absentee ballots had been returned to the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office, said Scott Konopasek, Snohomish County Elections Manager. Absentees were mailed on Aug. 29.
That preelection percentage is “standard for the primary election,” Konopasek said.
“We haven’t had any dramatic increase throughout the county, but there’s a steady increase” in voters choosing to register as absentees, Konopasek said.
The absentee option is now printed on voter registration forms, Konopasek said, which may be one reason more voters are making the choice.
Snohomish County is offering a new way to vote, with touch-screen voting machines installed at every polling place.
Konopasek said Monday, Sept. 16, will be the last day voters can come into the auditor’s office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to vote on touch-screen machines. If they choose to do that, they can turn in their absentee ballot, vote on the new machines without canceling out their absentee status.
As of Sept. 10, about 30 absentee voters showed up to the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office to do just that.
As for whether the new technology will affect absentee voting overall, Konopasek said, “time will tell. We really don’t know yet.”
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