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February special election ballots have been sent to 1.6 million voters

February special election ballots have been sent to 1.6 million voters

Although not all of Washington’s voters reside in a district that’s having a local election in this cycle, 32 of Washington’s 39 counties are conducting elections for local districts, such as school bond issues. Check our MyVote site to find out if you’re among the nearly 40 percent of registered Washingtonians who will receive a ballot for this election, the first of four scheduled for 2019. All ballots were mailed by Jan. 25, and the deadline to return them via…

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Grays Harbor 1970s poll workers
How the 1970 election set Washington’s midterm turnout record

How the 1970 election set Washington’s midterm turnout record

The county-certified election returns for the 2018 General Election came very near setting a new state record for voter participation in a non-Presidential election cycle. Of the 4,362,454 people on Washington’s voter rolls, 71.83 percent cast ballots, which was just under the 71.85 percent turnout for the 1970 midterm General Election. Had just 1,101 more Washingtonians voted, that 48-year-old record would have been eclipsed. That the 1970 turnout stands as the state’s high-water mark is noteworthy in several regards. First, the record…

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Drawing of two winners
Washington’s top-two primary: What it is and how it works

Washington’s top-two primary: What it is and how it works

Voting has begun for Washington’s 2018 Primary Election, for which ballots can be submitted in county drop boxes or via postage-paid U.S. Mail until Election Day, August 7. This year, Primary’s ballots include groups of candidates vying to collect enough votes to make the General Election, for which ballots are due Nov. 6. Across America, states use a variety of systems to winnow down fields of candidates to finalists, as the National Conference of State Legislatures describes here. In 2004,…

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online voter registring
Online voter registration reaches new heights

Online voter registration reaches new heights

A decade after Washington became the second state in the country to take voter registration online, 35 states and the District of Columbia (that other Washington, as some know it) have followed suit. Under current law, the deadline for online voter registration is 30 days before Election Day, so the deadline for registering to vote in the August Primary Election passed this week, on July 9th. Thanks to the excellent work by our Elections Division, thousands of Washingtonians registered to vote…

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Secretary of State Vic Meyers inspects the safe
55 years and still unsolved: Washington’s Great Petition Robbery

55 years and still unsolved: Washington’s Great Petition Robbery

In the lower level of the Legislative Building 55 years ago this week, a theft was discovered that made front-page newspaper headlines, resulted in no arrests, and shocked political leaders. The Great Petition Robbery, a heist of thousands of signature sheets bearing petition signatures for an anti-gambling ballot initiative, didn’t stop the initiative but did hasten the end of the long political career of Secretary of State Vic Meyers, a bandleader and former five-term lieutenant governor. The story unfolded over…

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John Hancock's Declaration of Independence signature
Signatures and state law: The enduring power of the pen

Signatures and state law: The enduring power of the pen

Even though the routine act of signing your name to authorize credit-card charges will soon become history, it is perhaps premature to consider the pen-and-paper signature doomed to obsolescence. Across the U.S., government at all levels remains legally reliant on hand-signed names in an immense number of ways. Federally, you might be able to electronically sign a tax return for the Internal Revenue Service, but a U.S. Passport and a Social Security card each require a written signature. The rationale goes back…

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Time to vote clock
April special election is underway

April special election is underway

For about 20 percent of Washington voters, today marks the beginning of the chance to cast ballots in a special election. Ballot boxes opened this morning for the April special election, the second of four election cycles for Washington voters in 2018. There’s plenty of time to participate: Election day is April 24, and the deadline for in-person voter registration with county election officials is April 16. So what’s on the ballot? For voters in 15 of Washington’s 39 counties…

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Student Mock Election is under way!

Student Mock Election is under way!

Washington voters have until Nov. 8 to vote their General Election ballots, but the state’s K-12 students this week have their own voting experience by taking part in the annual State Mock Election. Now in its 12th year, The Mock Election began Monday morning and ends this Friday at 1 p.m. It’s free and open to all Washington K-12 students who attend public, private or tribal school or are homeschooled. Sponsored by the Office of Secretary of State, the Mock…

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Secretary Wyman: Charges of rigged US elections `irresponsible’

Secretary Wyman: Charges of rigged US elections `irresponsible’

Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman released this statement Tuesday: In recent days, we have heard heated campaign rhetoric about American elections being “rigged” and somehow predetermined. This kind of baseless accusation is irresponsible and threatens to undermine voter confidence on this most basic foundation of democracy. As a 24-year election administrator at the state and local level, with close relationships with the national elections community, federal security experts and independent academics, I have full and complete confidence in our…

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Voters’ Pamphlet accessible to voters living with disabilities

Voters’ Pamphlet accessible to voters living with disabilities

WTBBL narrator Rachel Glass records text from this year’s Voters’ Pamphlet. (Photo courtesy WTBBL) This year’s statewide General Election Voters’ Pamphlet will be mailed out soon to more than 3 million Washington households. The largest edition, at nearly 300 pages, will take even the most patient reader a long time to get through it cover to cover. For Washington voters living with disabilities, trying to read a printed edition of the Voters’ Pamphlet can be an impossible task. Every single…

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