Connection: Looking Ahead

More than half of the votes in the Washington state primary, as well as one-third in Spokane County, were cast at the mailbox rather than the ballot box in September.

Elections officials expect those percentages to increase in November, as they have for nearly every election since 1980.

Absentee balloting is less common in Idaho, where it accounted for about 10 percent of voting in the 1998 general election. It’s more popular in Kootenai County, where County Clerk Dan English said between 15 percent and 20 percent vote by mail in most general elections.

Graphic: The early voters