Deadline for ballots is today

If you’re a registered voter who received a primary ballot earlier this month, chances are it’s still sitting around on a table or desk. Only about one voter in four in Spokane County who received a primary ballot had sent it back as of Monday, the county Elections Office reported.

There’s still time to make up your mind and mark your ballot – but not much.

Not every city or district has a primary. Only places with three of more candidates running for an office have to whittle the field down to two contestants for the November election.

Even voters who do have a primary don’t have many races on the ballot.

City of Spokane voters have three races on their ballots. The mayoral primary, which features incumbent Dennis Hession, council members Al French and Mary Verner, demolition contractor Mike Noder and retiree Robert Kroboth, is on all city ballots; so is the council president race with incumbent Joe Shogan, Barbara Lampert and Rob Crow, even though Crow has withdrawn from the race.

Each of the city’s council districts also has a primary.

Spokane Valley voters have a council primary as well. Realtor David Crosby, church music director Rose Dempsey and taxi service owner Joseph Edwards are running for an open council seat currently held by Mike DeVleming, who decided not to seek re-election.

But of all the cities and districts facing a primary in Spokane County, the Valley currently has the lowest number of people participating in the election. Of 44,826 ballots issued in Spokane Valley, just 8,151 - or about 18 percent – had come back by Monday. That’s a far cry from 2002, when about 19,900 voters participated in the vote on the city’s formation and 49 people ran for a chance to serve on the first Spokane Valley City Council.

It’s also a bit behind the city of Spokane, where turnout in council districts ranges from 25 percent to 30 percent, and the town of Spangle, where 40 percent of the ballots have come back.

But all voters have time to put a stamp on their ballots and mail them in, provided the envelope gets postmarked by this evening. Check the pickup time on the mailbox, or take it to a post office to be sure of getting a timely postmark.

Those who want to save a stamp can drop a ballot off before 8 p.m. at boxes set up at all city and county libraries.

The Elections Office also has five “voter service centers” that can accept ballots and issue provisional ballots to registered voters who lost or did not receive a mail-in ballot. They’ll be open until 8 p.m. at the main elections office, 1033 W. Gardner Ave.; the North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Ave.; St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 316 E. 24th Ave., Spokane; CenterPlace, 2426 N. Discovery Place, Spokane Valley; and the Cheney Library, 610 First St.