General election ballots for Spokane County began hitting the post office today.

County elections is mailing a total of 265,768 ballots to registered voters. They started today and will finish on Thursday. That means if you don't get a ballot by next Friday, Oct. 28, something might be amiss and you want to call the county elections office, at 477-2320, to find out what's going on while there's still time to get a replacement in the mail.

It is still possible to register to vote for the Nov. 8 general election, although you'll have to go to your county elections office to sign up in person.

After they are marked, sealed and signed, ballots can be returned by mail as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 8, or deposited in a drop box at locations set up in each county.

The locations of Spokane drop boxes can be found inside the blog.

Ballots for the Aug. 16 primary are in the mail, and should be showing up in the boxes of registered voters this week. Spokane County officials said they were sending out some 200,000 to voters around the county.

But not every voter will get a ballot because not every city, town or political district has a race with enough candidates to require a primary.

For example, the 4th District State Senate race is not on the ballot, even though it features two Republicans, incumbent Jeff Baxter and former state Rep. Mike Padden. Because primaries are no longer partisan, and because they are the only two candidates to file for the seat, the race will be decided in the Nov. 8 general election.

The City of Spokane has a primary for mayor and council president, but only voters in the city's northeast 1st District have a primary for in a council race. Only one Spokane Valley council race has enoung candidates to warrant a primary.

Ballots can be mailed back by Election Day (be sure to put a stamp on the envelope) or deposited without a stamp in a drop-off box at public libraries and other sites around the county. For a list of sites, click here.

Dan of the County: To be clear, no ballots are counted early, period. It took two solid days of 8-10 people working to open just the absentee ballots that KC received this time. As it was, every available election worker worked until after 5 a.m. the next morning. I can’t imagine how long it would have been if they hadn’t already at least opened the absentee ballots even with the write-in issue. It sounds like a good compromise would be to still allow watchers but who are located in a separate room with a video feed of the overall process but not in enough detail to see marks on the ballot or at least make them be well back from the process if you can’t trust them not to violate the process of ballot secrecy. More below.

Question: Any other questions re: Election Night for Dan?

Dan of the County: I do not handle or pick up or count or in any way interact with ballots when I am on the ballot myself. I will be visiting polling sites on election day to deliver other supplies and check on election day activities in general as is my responsibility. That also includes getting called out to polling sites when there are reports of someones sign being too close, etc. On election night I will be at the elections office but again will not handle ballots and will not be involved in posting results on the internet or other reports.

Question: Any other question for the clerk’s office re: ballot handling or Election Night?

As suggested yesterday, Tuesday was likely the high-water mark for ballots being received in Spokane County for the next two weeks.

Today’s count was 7,650, down about 4,500 from Tuesday’s 12,104.

Highest turnout right now is in central Spokane’s 3rd Legislative District, which is at about 11.2%, compared to 10.4% for the 4th District, 9.6% for the 6th District. 9.1% for the 7th District and 8.7% for the 9th District.

The 3rd District typically leads in turnout at the beginning of the turn-in, but drops to the bottom by election day.

Today isn’t marked in red on calendars, but it is an important day for political candidates and the people who work for them.

It’s the first Tuesday after ballots were mailed out in Washington state. And it is traditionally the high-water mark for ballots coming into the county elections office until the actual election day.

Generally speaking, about a third of voters who are going to mark and cast ballots do so as soon as they get them or over that first weekend. So today is the day that ballots from people who live in the county and mailed by Monday are most likely arrive. Returns will trail off until the day before Election Day, if this year is at all typical (which, admittedly, is assuming facts not in evidence.)

Today’s count: 12,104 out of Spokane County’s 260,597 voters, or about 4.6% of those eligible.

In 2008, the first Tuesday ballot count for the presidential election was 18,965 ballots, or about 7.2 percent of 262,569 registered voters. The county went on to experience record-setting turnout with 222,065 ballots cast. The difference in first Tuesday ballot totals could numeric evidence that an “enthusiasm gap” does exist.

But there are two other sets of numbers to examine when looking at ballot returns and enthusiasm, the vote totals in the primaries.

In this August primary, the first Tuesday count was 11,083 out of the county’s 260,160 voters, or about 4.2%. By the end of the election, 113,090 people voted. In August 2008 (which, like this year did not  have a presidential race on that ballot, 8,665 out of the county’s 243,568 voters sent in their ballots, and 113,837 voted.

Ballots to Spokane County voters go into the mail starting today.

It’s a two-day process to mail out some 255,000 ballots in Spokane County, so ballots to the 3rd Legislative District (central Spokane) and 4th Legislative District (Spokane Valley) are being mailed today, and those to the 6th (curving from northwest Spokane around to the South Hill), the 7th (Deer Park and the northern tip part of the county) and the 9th (the West Plains and the southern third of the county) go out Thursday.

If you don’t get your ballot by Oct. 21, you can figure that something may be amiss, and you should call the elections office at 477-2320.

Ballots have to be marked, signed and sent by Nov. 2. That means a postmarked by that day, or — for those wishing to save a stamp — dropped in a pickup box. Drop boxes can be found at most county libraries. A list of locations and addresses can be found inside the blog.

Ballots for the Aug. 17 Top Two primary are being dropped in the mail today and Thursday.

That explains why the number of political commercials on television and the radio are starting to increase, and campaign signs are sprouting like dandelions all over the community.

Rules are the same as always. Mark the ballot anytime between the moment you receive them and the evening of Aug. 17. Follow the directions, because some inks drive the computer scanners crazy.

Put the ballot in the double-envelope system. Sign the outer envelope. If you are mailing it in, put a stamp on it, and if it’s like Aug. 16 or 17, make sure that the box where you’re putting it has pickup before the election day so it can get postmarked in time.

Or save yourself a stamp and take it to a drop-off box. Generally speaking, they’re at public libraries, with a few other spots thrown in. A full list of locations is inside the blog.