I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t we just do this? Yes. Yes, we did. King County has already held two special elections this year, in February and April. But democracy does not rest! It’s the 2025 primary election, bitches! It is time, once again, to put blue or black ink to oblong bubble and make some big choices about our future.
Sure, local primary elections have a reputation for being uneventful snoozefests, but some very vital decisions will be made come August 5. Not only will Seattle voters narrow down the crowded mayoral candidate field—in which there are currently nine contenders—but we also get to decide who’ll take on Republican Seattle City Attorney incumbent Ann Davison, who’s ready to make a run at NIMBY-loving Sara Nelson’s City Council seat, and which of the eight people running for King County Executive will appear on the ballot in November’s general election.
The primaries are where we can weed out the weirdos (Rachael Savage) and give the real ones (Katie Wilson) a boost. This is where we can send a message to City Hall that we’re paying attention—we won’t stand for four more years of a sweeps-loving bully, and we won’t vote for another council member who prioritizes billionaires over human rights. It’s very exciting! But in order to do all of that, you must be registered to vote.
How to Register to Vote
New voters can register online at votewa.gov or in person at the County Elections Office. You’ll need a Washington State driver’s license or ID card or, if you don’t have that, the last four digits of your Social Security number. To vote in the August primary, you must register online by July 28 or in person by August 5, Election Day. If you are registered, but you’ve moved or changed your name since last voting, you can confirm or update your voter registration at votewa.gov, too.
What to Know About Your Ballot
Washington State votes by mail, and ballots are mailed out 18 days before Election Day. For the August primaries, you should get your ballot on or around July 18. If you don’t receive your ballot, you can request a replacement on King County’s website at kingcounty.gov. You can also call 206-296-VOTE or email elections@kingcounty.gov, and they’ll get you set up. (They love democracy! They want to help you!)
There is one very important thing to consider when preparing to return your ballot: your signature. You must sign the ballot’s return envelope—or have a witness sign it if you’re unable. And your signature must match the one the elections office has on file, which is either the signature you used when registering to vote, or the one that appears on your driver’s license or state-issued ID card.
Don’t just scribble nonsense; don’t just put your initials. Don’t mindlessly doodle dogs and flowers all over it while you sit on hold with Xfinity for six hours. When it comes to voting by mail, your signature is a big deal. It’s how the elections office confirms your ballot came from you. Tens of thousands of ballots are returned in Washington State every election cycle because the signature either is missing or doesn’t match. In November’s 2024 General Election, more than 8,700 ballots with unmatching signatures were returned, and more than 2,800 ballots were unsigned in King County alone.
Are you scared? Did all this pressure about handwriting cause a tickle of anxiety in the pit of your stomach? Relax! If you’re a registered voter and worried about an out-of-date signature, you can update your signature online at kingcounty.gov. And if your signature is denied after all, the elections office will contact you—by phone, mail, and email—and let you know what to do next. But you must correct a contested ballot before the election results are certified two weeks after Election Day.
Where to Take Your Ballot
So you registered, received your ballot, filled out the appropriate bubbles, sealed it in the security envelope, and signed the return envelope. Good job! Now you can drop your ballot in an official ballot box by 8 p.m. on Election Day, August 5. Find one near you on the county’s website. You can also mail it, and no stamp is needed. Because ballots arriving via postal mail must be postmarked by Election Day, officials recommend you send it by the Friday before.
You can track your ballot’s progress at info.kingcounty.gov. Or, even better, when voting, you can sign up to receive text alerts, and you’ll be notified when your ballot has been received and again when it’s been counted. Neat!
Why Do All of This?
Now that we’ve covered how, I want to talk about why. The truth is, many folks who can vote know how, they just choose not to. Even if they’re already registered. And that is especially true in midterm primary elections.
Just 41 percent of registered voters participated in Washington State’s primary election last year, and that number drops a notch to 40 percent when you zoom in on King County. And who are some of those primary election voters voting for? It’s kind of wild, actually! Nearly 17,000 Washington voters voted for Goodspaceguy for US Senator in the 2024 primaries. That is his official name on the ballot! Goodspaceguy is a Republican who has run more than 25 times for various offices in the region, he refers to Earth as “Spaceship Earth,” and he believes, according to his voter guide statement, that a state-wide minimum wage “creates so many homeless, unemployed, problem, poor people and panhandlers and shop-lifters and muggers.” Yikes.
If that’s too niche for you, consider this: More than 541,533 Washington State voters cast their ballots for Dave Reichert during the primaries and got him on the ballot for the general election, and the guy brought a gun to his own campaign event! He lost in the general election to Gov. Bob Ferguson, but all those early votes sent a message: Reichert has their support. There are some very strange people in the world who make some very strange decisions, and they’re showing up to vote—even in the admittedly unsexy but no less important primary elections. Will you?
