It’s voting time. Just like always, the voting is important. You wield so much power. I love that about you.
But, you’ve got to make sure your ballot and your vote count. In Washington state, mail-in voting is our bread and butter. We’re one of five states that uses a 100 percent vote-by-mail system. . However, new United States Postal Service rules that change how mail is postmarked could tack on delays for ballots sent by mail. And, even though we make it easy to participate in Democracy here, there are still annoying and complicated things that could make it so you don’t. How do you register? How do you change your registration? What happens if your dog eats your ballot?
I have all of the answers you could ever want. If you want to cast your vote in an election where we’ll be choosing our mayor, county executive, multiple city and county council seats, and selecting a slew of state representatives, you’ll need them. And, if you don’t know how to vote, have I got the endorsement guide for you.
Mail It ASAP
A new USPS rule this year changed how the mail tzars do postmarking. Usually, the post office would postmark a letter, or a ballot, once it received it. Not anymore. The USPS states “the postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mail piece.” That vagueness translates to slower postmark dates.
The point of the change was to improve USPS’ “efficiency,” but it’s really eroded same-day postmarking, according to this blog devoted to the USPS.
This has an impact on things that use postmarking as a deadline for legal purposes like, say, a ballot. The rule goes that the mail-in ballots must be postmarked on or before election day to count. The new USPS rule means postmarking is less reliable. USPS recommends voters mail in their ballots at least a week before election day. So, that would mean mailing your ballots by Oct. 28 for King County voters.
Halei Watkins, communications manager at King County Elections, says Seattle has a speedy USPS processing plant, so it might not be a huge problem here. Rural communities, on the other hand, don’t have their mail postmarked until they reach a centralized processing plant. During the primary, those communities saw big spikes in mail-in ballots returned too late to count, Watkins says.
To be on the safe side, voters should mail their ballots the Friday before election day, which happens to be Halloween (NOT AN OMEN), or better yet, use a ballot drop box. They’re all over the county.
Still, to be on the safe side Watkins says voters should mail their ballots the Friday before election day at the latest or, to be on the even safer side, to follow USPS guidelines and mail their ballots a week before Nov. 4. Or, better yet, use a ballot drop box. They’re all over the county and open right now. You have until 8 p.m. on election night to drop off your ballot.
“Drop boxes are going to be the best and fastest way to get your ballot directly back into King County Election’s hands,” Watkins says. “They’re definitely the best thing to use in that final week.”
Need to Register? Need to Update an Address?
Because it is in the best interest of our democracy if people can vote, King County makes it easy for people to register to vote and change their registration. Voters can do so up until and even on election day.
Voters can even do this online through Oct. 27. Just go online to King County Elections or VoteWA and update your information. King County Elections will send your ballot to you in time for you to submit it.
That means your friends who have been living in Seattle for years but haven’t changed their registration from when they lived in California have no excuse not to. Passive aggressively send this to them. They will, of course, need a valid Washington state drivers license or ID card, as well as the last four digits of their social security number. If they don’t have any of those, they can register in-person or by mail. If registering in a more analog way, you must swear you’re a US citizen, provide a residential and mailing address, and a form of identification. You don’t necessarily need the ID to register, but you will need to submit an ID for your vote to count.
If you miss that Oct. 27 deadline, you’ll have to track down King County Elections in person to register or update your registration. You can go to elections headquarters in Renton, or catch them at your local library before the election. They’ll be at the central Seattle Public Library on Saturday Oct. 25. You can find other dates and locations here. Or, on election day there will be in-person sites at Lumen Field and the Hub on the University of Washington’s campus.
Those aren’t polling places, but people will be there to help you vote.
“You can absolutely come get a replacement ballot, register to vote, and use an accessible voting device,” Watkins says. An accessible voting device has a touch screen, large print, and an audio function to help disabled voters fill out their ballots privately and independently. “If you come and you need a ballot, we’ll print you off a ballot that looks just like the one you’ve got in the mail, and then you can sit at a table, fill it out and drop it in the little dropbox we’ll have there and go on your way.”
Right, right, that’s a good point. If you are registered to vote and you lost your ballot, or you left for a trip before your ballot came and won’t be back until after election day (lucky you), you can print off a replacement ballot online. It also comes with a printable postage so you can mail it in with no postage fees. Watkins calls this a “fun little art project” because voters must cut it out and tape it on the regular envelope.
“Then stick it in the mail and again, mail it as early as possible,” Watkins says.
Just make sure your signature isn’t an art project. If your signature doesn’t match what King County Elections has on file, they’ll ask you to reconfirm your signature or your vote won’t count.
Other Things
If you changed your name recently, but it’s not updated on your registration you can still vote! But, get that stuff updated soon.
You can use any type of pen to fill out the ballot.
Sign up to track your ballot to make sure it’s been counted.
