Deadline to register for vote falls Saturday

State voters can cast ballots in the first partisan primary in almost 70 years next month, but only if they are registered.

The deadline to register for voting at your precinct polling station is Saturday. For two weeks after that, anyone wishing to register will have to go the county elections office.

Registrars are available at most public libraries and government offices, including Department of Licensing offices where drivers licenses are obtained or renewed. Most political candidates’ offices also have a registrar, or at least an official registration form that can be filled out and mailed in.

Those with access to the Internet can also print a registration form from the Washington Secretary of State’s Web site, http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/register.aspx. Forms are available in English, Chinese, Spanish, Cambodian, Korean, Laotian, Russian and Vietnamese. They can be mailed to the secretary of state at the address on the Web site, or delivered to the county elections office. If mailed, they must be postmarked by Saturday. In Spokane, the elections office is at Gardner and Monroe, two blocks north of the county courthouse.

Any American citizen living in the state, who will be at least 18 by the Sept. 14 primary, is eligible to vote. There’s no fee or test for registering.