The daily totals from state election officials say more than 1.23 million voters have already sent in their ballots, or 29 percent of the ballots that were sent out.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman said she hopes the state will beat the record turnout of 2008, which was 84.6 percent.

That would require voters to pick up the pace a bit, particularly in Spokane County. Although Tuesday saw the biggest pile of ballots coming into the elections office so far this year -- 18,905 -- county turn-in is also at 29. percent. In 2008 at this point in the election, after a similarly heavy day of ballots coming in by mail or collected from the drop boxes, it was at 36.3 percent. Spokane finished that election slightly ahead of the state, with 85.6 percent turn-in

Spokane is also slightly off the pace from 2012, when the turn-in at this point was 31 percent. That year, the county finished with 79.5 percent, behind the 81 percent for the state. 

Most years, the county and the state end up within a percentage point or two for the final ballot return statistic. It's not a given, but if there are going to be any records set, voters in the county and the state would have to pick up the pace.  

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