OLYMPIA – Washington voters have a very good track record of casting ballots – among the best in the country.
Is it perfect? No. Could it be better? Yes. Are there people who should vote but don’t? Probably. Is it worth making major changes to the current system to capture some shoulda-woulda-coulda voters?
Some legislators think so. Some state and local officials who run the elections wish they would knock it off. Judge for yourself who’s right.

To read the rest of this column, go inside the blog.
  

OLYMPIA – One of the most popular ways to register to vote is to sign up when applying for a driver’s license. Unless you’re 16 or 17, the time when most drivers get their first license but are too young to vote.
State Rep. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, thinks the state should help those young drivers and all 16- and 17-year-olds become good voters, by letting them “pre-register” to vote, so they’ll automatically be added to the rolls when they turn 18.

To read the rest of this item, or for links to the bills, click here to go inside the blog.

OLYMPIA — Nearly 21,000 residents who either signed up to vote or updated their registration by using a state web site might not  have been mailed a ballot or may have been sent a ballot for their old address.

The Washington Secretary of State's office said late Monday that some voters who used the Department of Licensing's web site to register or change their address may not have received a ballot because the DoL computer wasn't sending that  information to the SecState computer.

Nearly 15,000 voters who tried to update their registration address when they updated their drivers license address filled out a form online and on time, but that information wasn't forwarded to the Secretary of State's office until last Friday. Some of those voters may have received ballots that were sent to a previous address and forwarded to them; others may not have received a ballot

Almost 6,000 who weren't registered may have filled out the “update your voter registration” form which doesn't have enough information for a new registration.

So what's a wouldbe voter to do? On Election Eve, the Secretary of State's office says if you believe you registered but haven't received a ballot — or if you changed your address but received a ballot for your old location — go to your county elections office or a Voter Service Center to fill out a registration form and cast a provisional ballot.

For information on the location of county elections offices and voter service centers, click here.

If you're a Washington resident who has been putting off registering to vote but still want to cast a ballot in the November general election, here's your last warning:

This is the last day to register the relatively easy way, online. You can just go to the Secretary of State's website and follow the instrluctions.

Because this is a federal holiday (Columbus Day), the time has passed to download a form, fill it out and mail it in. You can't get it postmarked today because the Post Offices are closed.

But the Internet does not close down, so you can do it  online.

Miss today's deadline and you'll have to go to your county elections office, fill out the form in person and turn it in, sometime between now and Halloween. But seriously: If you've been procrastinating this long, which are you more likely to do? Click a link and type in some info, or figure out where the elections office is, when it's open and drive over there?

We thought so. Click on the link and get going.

If you're an Idaho voter, never mind. The rules are different there.

Washington residents who are eligible to vote but haven’t registered have until Saturday to mail in their registration forms, and until Monday to sign up online.

The final deadline for mail and online voting is Monday, but that’s Columbus Day, a federal holiday on which post offices will be closed. Mail-in registrations must be postmarked by Monday, but if they don’t get postmarked Saturday, they won’t be postmarked until Tuesday.

It will be possible to register online through Monday by going to the Secretary of State’s web site . Residents who miss that deadline can still sign up in person at a county elections office until Oct. 31.
  

Washington residents who want to vote in the general election but just haven't got around to registering have until Monday to sign up “the easy ways.”

The easy ways are by Internet, by going to the Secretary of State's website, or by mailing in a voter registration form.

The slightly harder way — which might also be regarded as “the old way”, because that's what folks once had to do — is to go down to your county elections office and fill out the form in person. If you miss Monday's deadline, you can still do that until Halloween. But let's face it, if you won't do it on the Internet in the comfort of your own home, and maybe in your pajamas, how likely are you to make a special trip to the county offices?

You are eligible to vote if you are:

At least 18 years old by Nov. 8, which is election day this year.
A citizen of the United States.
A resident of Washington state

So if all those apply, you can vote unless you are :

A convicted felon who has not had your voting rights restored.
Someone declared mentally incompetent and ineligible to vote by a court.

So if you can pass this 5-point test, you can register.

An estimate released by the Secretary of State's office suggests that about one in five Washington residents who are eligible to vote are not registered.

So if 20 percent aren't even registered, and only 60 percent bother to vote, and the winning candidate gets 51 percent, how is that an example of “majority rules?”

Here it is.

After Monday, it won't do you any good if you plan to vote in the Aug. 16 primary.

Washington residents who aren't registered to vote but want to do so in the Aug. 16 primary — and only you know who you are — have until Monday to get registered in the easiest ways possible.

That is, but mail or online.

In Washington is possible to go to the Secretary of State's website and register online if you have the required ID, or print out a form, fill it out and mail it in. But that has to be done 30 days before an election.

After next Monday, it will still be possible to register through Aug. 8 by going to the County Elections Office in person and filling out the form. But chances are if you haven't registered yet, you aren't inclined to make that kind of effort.

So let this serve as adequate warning to the marginally motivated.

Monday is the last day to register to vote in Washington state for the Nov. 2 election.

Honest. No kidding. That’s it.

And if you aren’t registered now, but want to vote, you’re going to have to do a little bit to be able to exercise your voting rights.

Not shed blood, or sell your first-born child or anything like that.

You’re going to have to go to theCounty  Elections Office, in person, and fill out the form. None of this clicking on a Web site or mailing it in. We’re thinking that if it’s worth it to you to vote, you can make the trip.

In Spokane County, the Elections Office is at 1033 W. Gardner, which is a few blocks north of the County Courthouse.

(The courthouse? It’s that building that looks like a castle, just off Monroe on Broadway. You can’t miss it, really.)

Elections office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bring some ID, and you can get registered to vote.

Washington residents who want to cast a ballot in the Aug. 18 primary have to be registered by Monday, or they’re out of luck.

Those who aren’t registered, but want to, must register in person at their local county elections office by filling out a form. On-line registration, which is available most of the year, will not allow a new voter to be on the books in time for the primary.

In Spokane, that would mean a prospective voter wouldn’t be able to cast a ballot on a countywide proposal to continue a sales tax for law enforcement. Many cities and towns and some school and fire districts also have primaries that will trim the number of candidates for local office down to two for the November election.

In most counties. the elections office is at or near the county courthouse. In Spokane, it’s two blocks away at 1033 W. Gardner.Click here to find other addresses.