Voter registration deadline looms for Washington presidential primary

Washington residents who aren’t registered to vote but are hoping to cast a ballot in the state’s Feb. 19 presidential primary have until Saturday to sign up one of three easy ways.

•Pick up a registration form at most government offices, fill it out and mail it in. It has to be postmarked by Saturday to get you on the rolls for standard voting procedures, which in most Eastern Washington counties means a ballot will be mailed to your home.

•Print out a registration form from one of many Internet sites, fill it out and mail it in by Saturday. Try www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/ – most other Web sites send people there eventually.

•Use the state’s new online registration system, which is also found at www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/. To sign up online, prospective voters have to have a state driver’s license or a state-issued identification card. If not, they can print out the paper form and mail it in.

Those who miss Saturday’s deadline have until Feb. 4 to go to the county elections office and fill out the form in person.

Ballots will be mailed at the end of the month. In some counties, elections officials will mail a Democratic and a Republican ballot. In others, including Spokane County, voters will get a single “consolidated” ballot with both party’s candidates on it. Voters can pick only one candidate from one party – you don’t get to mark the ballot for your favorite Republican and your favorite Democrat.

Voters will also be required to check a box on the signature envelope that says they are a member of the party of the candidate for whom they voted.

If you don’t check the box, your vote for the candidate won’t be counted, although you will get credit for casting a ballot in the county’s elections records.

If you do check the box, the party will receive your name on a list of all voters who cast ballots in their primary.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, argues that the presidential caucus is important for both parties as a test of their support in Washington, the second most populous state in the West.