Today, Tomorrow, and Friday–at least in Spokane County
In 2011, by state legislation, Washington State finished converting to our present Vote-By-Mail system. By state law (RCW 29A.40.070) county auditors in Washington State must mail a ballot to each voter “at leasteighteen days before each primary or election” [the italics are mine]. The November General Election is held nationwide on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November (by federal law). On account of that timing, typically Washington State Ballots are put in the mail just a little more than 18 days before, that is, mid-October, commonly on a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mid-month. This year that would center on Thursday, October 17. However, Washington State’s county auditors have the latitude to mail ballots even earlier—if their homework is done early.
Of course, “mailing ballots” sounds simpler than it is. With our sliced and diced electoral landscape with its many overlying jurisdictions, the printed ballot required for the voters of one precinct may be quite different even from that required in an adjacent precinct. Once the contents of each precinct’s ballots is determined, each county gets in line to have their ballots printed. (I am told that one printing company does nearly all the ballot printing for a slew of western states, so place in the queue matters.)
Once those obstacles are mastered there is nothing that keeps a county auditor from mailing ballots a week (or more) earlier. This year ballots will be mailed from the Spokane County Election’s office (part of the Auditor’s office) today (Wednesday), Thursday, and Friday, October 9, 10, and 11. If everything is working correctly you should have your ballot in your mailbox by this weekend. (The same week-early mailing occurred in 2020, the last presidential election year.)
Don’t Wait—Do Your Homework and submit your ballot
Once you’ve filled out and returned your ballot the volume of calls and door-knocks should diminish. Campaigns have access to databases that show whose ballot has been received and accepted—but not for whom you voted. The campaigns use this data to focus their efforts elsewhere.
Pro-voter tip: At vote.wa.gov you can check to see if your ballot has been “accepted” by clicking the tab “Your Ballot and Voting Materials.” (There you can also read an online version of the Voter Guide. (You should also receive both a state and a county guide in the mail.)
There are good sources of information about the candidates and the ballot measures you will see on your ballot. My favorite source for reasoned, rational information is The Progressive Voters Guide (click to go there). By entering the address of your voter registration (not necessarily the same as the address to which your ballot was mailed) you can see the guide customized to the races that appear on your ballot.
In past years I have recommended checking out “WeBelieveWeVote,” as a guide to rigidly right wing candidates to avoid. This year WeBelieveWeVote seems to be barely functional, displaying “The Voter’s Guide will return in November,” although I still see an occasional yard sign for the organization. Perhaps publicly signing on to what many voters consider extremist articles of faith is now seen by the more clever right wing candidates as a losing proposition.
Insofar as you might find what I have written useful, for best way to access earlier articles published in this blog, Indivisible—The High Ground, I recommend the archives at jxindivisible.org. I archive there because WordPress has a more robust Search function than does Substack. At jxindivisible.org you can scroll through titles and articles or enter keywords like “Baumgartner” or “French” or “PFAS” in the Search box to call up articles in which that keyword appears. (I use this archive to help bolster my aging memory, especially for links to references.) Looking back, I realize that, with the exception of the post “Carmela Conroy for Eastern Washington” I have concentrated less on the excellent candidates I support than I have focused on the candidates I believe deserve to lose.
Do your homework, fill out your ballot, turn it in promptly, discuss your voting choices with like-minded friends, and encourage them to register and vote. Most of us understand that Washington State’s electoral votes, to a high degree of likelihood, will go to support the Harris/Walz ticket, i.e. we’re not a swing state. That said, control of the U.S. Congress and that of state and county government is also at stake in this election. Don’t neglect the down-ballot races.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry