State's voter turnout trails 2020's numbers

Ballots are streaming in for Tuesday’s election in Washington, but the number returned is still falling well below four years ago.

As of Monday, 56.7% of ballots had been returned statewide, according to the secretary of state’s website. That’s more than 2.8 million ballots returned so far. In 2020, 73.7% of ballots had been returned the day before the election.

Election officials are still expecting turnout to be around 80% as most ballots are returned in the days before the election. That’s on par with most other presidential years, aside from 2020 and 2008, which both saw record high levels near 84%.

In 2016, 78.7% of voters turned in a ballot and in 2012, 81.3% voted.

“2020 was the outlier year because we were all at home and our ballots were staring at us,” Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad told the Standard on Sunday. “We’re feeling pretty on track that we’re going to get at least 80%.”

Still, the low turnout was worrying some Democrats in recent days.

At a Democratic Party get-out-the-vote rally in Olympia on Sunday, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck shared the number of returned ballots so far – what he called “a scary number” – with party volunteers.

“My biggest concern is complacency,” he said. “That is something that will erode us. There is too much at stake.”

Republicans, meanwhile, saw the low turnout as an opportunity. Washington State Republican Party chair Jim Walsh said on X that the early numbers were promising for some of their candidates in King County and Seattle. “The left is discouraged,” Walsh said. “They don’t like their candidates.” 

King County’s turnout was 57.8%, as of Monday. That’s compared to 76.6% at this time four years ago. The county with the lowest turnout so far this year was Adams with almost 39% turned in. Yakima followed with 45.6% of ballots turned in so far.

Jefferson was leading the state with its turnout, at 73.2%, as of Monday.

Meanwhile, Washington reached a milestone on Monday with five million registered voters. The deadline to register online or via mail was a week ago and more than 10,000 voters registered on that day alone. 

“The Office of the Secretary of State encourages all registered voters to participate and vote on the candidates and statewide initiatives on the ballot this election,” Assistant Secretary of State Kevin McMahan said in a statement.

First published Nov. 4, 2024. Copyright 2024 Washington State Standard. Reprinted with permission. More at: ­washingtonstatestandard.com.