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Special election ends April 26

Special election ends April 26

While many in Washington are looking forward to the state’s first Presidential Primary in eight years, about a quarter of the state’s registered voters have a chance to vote in an earlier election — the April Special Election. Ballots have been sent to 981,687 voters (24 percent of the state’s registered voters) in 22 of Washington’s 39 counties. Voters need to return their ballots at drop boxes or have them postmarked by April 26 in order to count. The special…

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SecWyman talks election with Comcast Newsmakers

SecWyman talks election with Comcast Newsmakers

With the General Election just weeks away, the public and media are casting their eyes on the key races, measures and dates before voters cast their ballots. As the chief elections official in Washington, Secretary of State Kim Wyman is being interviewed more and more leading up to the fall election. Wyman recently sat down for an interview with Comcast Newsmakers host Sabrina Register to talk about what is on the ballot  (all 10 congressional seats, all of the state…

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FAQs about those tax advisory votes

FAQs about those tax advisory votes

We’re getting lots of questions about a relatively new form of ballot measure in Washington state — the statewide tax advisory vote.   Here are some FAQs to help shed some light: Q. What are these Advisory Votes 3 through 7 that I see in my Voters’ Pamphlet? A.  These are nonbinding measures that let voters say whether they think the Legislature should “repeal” or “maintain” revenue-generating bills that lawmakers passed this year.  The Legislature used the $200 million from these…

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Looking for historic Voters’ Pamphlets? State Library has ‘em

Looking for historic Voters’ Pamphlets? State Library has ‘em

Just as turkey and football are Thanksgiving staples, the Voters’ Pamphlet is a regular feature during each fall’s General Election in Washington. In fact, you should have received the Voters’ Pamphlet in the mail for this year’s election. Did you know that the Office of Secretary of State is required by the Washington Constitution to send the Voters’ Pamphlet to every residence in the state? We’ve been doing just that since the state’s very first Voters’ Pamphlet, in 1914. Below…

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Online voter registratation deadline is Monday

Online voter registratation deadline is Monday

Chase Warren, who just turned 18, holds up his voter registration form, completed on his birthday. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Way) Congratulations to Chase Warren of Olympia, not only for his 18th birthday but for remembering to register to vote! Chase stopped by our office Friday afternoon, quickly and painlessly filled out a voter registration form, and left as a Washingtonian voter. He helped Washington move just a little closer to the 4-million-registered-voter mark. Chase chose to register the old-school…

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ERIC helps WA upgrade voter registration

ERIC helps WA upgrade voter registration

Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman and the 39 county election departments are breaking new ground as they begin updating over 53,000 voter registration records and mail voter registration information to more than 140,000 potentially eligible, but unregistered residents. Updating such a large number of records and conducting focused registration education recently has become possible, thanks to the state’s leadership and participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). ERIC is a non-profit organization that assists states with improving the…

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April special election ballot-counting winding down

April special election ballot-counting winding down

Voting in the April special election ended on Tuesday, and the 21 counties that had measures or races have been busy counting ballots. For those of you wondering how certain races or bond or levy measures are faring, go here to see the results (just click on the county name after opening the link to view the results) for all the counties that were part of the special election, or a county-by-county breakdown of the results. Those counties will certify…

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Georgetown Voters Unfair to Dr. Fehr

Georgetown Voters Unfair to Dr. Fehr

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Pennsylvania-born Dr. Albert Henry Fehr appears to have arrived in the then independent city of Georgetown, Washington around 1908, at age 36. He specialized in horses, and even had a patent in 1899 on a toe-weight for equines. In 1906 he was a one-day national news sensation when he blew the whistle on a horse he was ordered to drug in order to fix a…

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