Peninsula auditors expect flood of ballots next week

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Ballots for the upcoming general election may be only trickling in now, but auditors in Clallam and Jefferson counties expect a flood of last-minute votes next week.

After the morning mail Tuesday, Clallam County reported a total of 10,754 ballots returned out of 46,887 mailed to registered voters for a voter turnout of 22.94 percent.

In Jefferson County, 7,071 of the 22,854 issued had been returned for a voter turnout of 30.94 percent.

But that will change once all votes are in for the upcoming Tuesday election, said auditors in both North Olympic Peninsula counties.

Jefferson County’s Donna Eldridge’s “guesstimate” for final voter turnout is 77 percent, while Patty Rosand, Clallam County auditor, is hoping turnout will hit 55 percent.

“We have five contested races,” Eldridge said.

“I think people are taking their time making the decisions on these local contested races.”

Both she and Rosand expect the bulk of the ballots to come in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

“We always do get them at the end,” Rosand said.

“It’s a complicated ballot. There are hotly contested races. There’s the charter review commission, where they have to vote for five candidates,” Rosand added.

“I’m sure they are waiting for last-minute information.”

Statewide returns

Statewide, returns are lagging.

As of Tuesday morning, the Washington secretary of state reported 569,111 ballots, 14.6 percent of the 3.9 million issued, had been received.

Jefferson County was at that time — before morning ballots were received — third in the state with 26.8 percent turnout, behind Grant and Pacific counties.

By noon Tuesday, Jefferson County returns were at 6.37 percent less than the same time during the 2010 election cycle, Eldridge said.

But she is confident the numbers will soar.

The county, which is generally in the top two or three for voter turnout statewide, had 77.52 percent turnout in 2006 and 81.57 percent in 2010, she said.

“We hope to be number one,” Eldridge said.

“Our voters get out and vote.”

Ballots must be postmarked for the all-mail primary by Tuesday.

Ballots also can be hand-delivered by 8 p.m. that day.

Where to take ballots

In Clallam County, they can be taken to:

■ Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles. Drop boxes are outside the courthouse and in the Auditor’s Office.

■ Sequim Village Shopping Center, 609 W. Washington St., near the city’s utility payment drop box in the J.C. Penney parking lot.

■ Forks District Court, 502 E. Division St.

In Jefferson County, ballots can be taken to:

■ Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend. Drop boxes are available behind the courthouse and inside the Auditor’s Office.

■ Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave., Port Hadlock.

Anyone who has not received a ballot should phone or stop by the county Auditor’s Office.

The Clallam County office can be reached at 360-417-2221.

The Jefferson County office can be reached at 360-385-9116.