OLYMPIA — Your election calendar might not say Washington State Primary until Aug. 7, but in reality, the election has already begun.

Some 50,000 ballots have been sent to deployed service members and other state residents living overseas. Some went by regular mail, others went by e-mail, depending on what the voter requested.

All of the state's 39 counties sent out some ballots, the state Elections Division said today. Spokane County sent out 3,722, which was the fifth highest in the state.

Ballots to the rest of the state's voters will be mailed out in mid-July, and have to be dropped off or postmarked by Aug. 7.

And just a friendly reminder: If you are eligible to vote, but aren't registered, you have until July 9 to register online. If you aren't registered, you can start the process by clicking here. If you can't remember if you're registered at your current address, that link will help you find that out, too.

OLYMPIA — Those with long memories might recall a point last fall when the state received a waiver of the federal deadline for getting ballots to the troops overseas, and FOX News commentators briefly came unglued because they thought the state was trying to take the most precious right of democracy away from the brave men and women fighting and dying to defend those rights.

Or something like that.

No matter how hard then-assistant state elections director Katie Blinn tried to explain the state's system, FOX anchor Megyn Kelly couldn't seem to wrap her head around the idea that because the Washington continues to count ballots that come in the mail for nearly two weeks after “election day”, the state actually has a longer window than most for the troops — and anyone else overseas — to get their ballot back to be counted. The state GOP's executive and central committees passed a resolution calling for Secretary of State Sam Reed to withdraw its request for a waiver, without ever bothering to call Reed, who is a Republican.

You can read about that whole flap from the archives, here or watch the FOX report here.

So why bring this up? Because a new study on the record for states in getting ballots out and back to deployed troops and other overseas voters gives Washington high marks for the 2010 election… .

Read about it, inside the blog.