It’s Election Days; do you know where your ballot is?

Your calendar probably says Election Day is Nov. 7. But there is no longer a “day” for elections in Eastern Washington. Counties will begin mailing ballots Wednesday, which means some voters could receive, mark and mail back their ballots as early as Thursday. Others will wait – to get more information on a candidate or a ballot issue, attend a forum or watch a debate, or just because they like to procrastinate.

With nearly all counties east of the Cascades switched to “vote by mail,” going to the polls on a particular day may soon seem as relevant as membership in the Whig Party.

Campaigns will continue right up to Nov. 7, but with each day that passes, candidates and the supporters or opponents of ballot measures know there are fewer voters left to sway. That’s why the commercials and mailers are starting earlier this year.

There is no shortage of campaigns competing for voters’ attention in what’s generally known as a “mid-term” election. It’s the middle of the president’s term, so he’s not facing voters, and neither are most state executives.

But Washington has a hotly contested U.S. Senate race between freshman Democratic incumbent Maria Cantwell and a Republican challenger, former Safeco chief executive officer Mike McGavick. They’re debating everything from Social Security and immigration policy to tax credits and energy. Meanwhile, three minor party candidates – Libertarian Bruce Guthrie, the Green Party’s Aaron Dixon and independent Robin Adair – are trying to get a word in edgewise.

In the U.S. House race, freshman incumbent Cathy McMorris is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Peter Goldmark, an Okanogan rancher and former Washington State University regent. With House Republican leadership under fire in recent months, first for ties to lobbyists and more recently for the page scandal, McMorris has been stressing her bipartisan work on regional projects and fights with the White House to raise power rates. Goldmark is pushing a return to integrity in Congress.

Three state Supreme Court justices – a third of the state’s highest court – are also on the ballot, but only one, Susan Owens, has an opponent who survived the primary. She faces Stephen Johnson, a state senator.

Washington voters are also being asked on different statewide initiatives to repeal the state’s inheritance tax, make government pay landowners whenever a rule or regulation restricts their property rights and make energy companies devote more money to alternative energy.

Locally, control of the county courthouses are up for grabs. Most counties have their executive spots – auditor, assessor, clerk, prosecutor, treasurer and sheriff – on the ballot as well as at least one commissioner seat.

In Spokane, that means contested races for all but the clerk’s position, and a ballot that features three-term incumbent Commissioner Phil Harris, a Republican, facing neighborhood activist Bonnie Mager, a Democrat, in one of the most closely watched contests.

The city of Spokane has no elected positions on the ballot, but city voters are being asked to approve a new system for removing their elected leaders. The charter change comes in the wake of the complicated recall process that ultimately removed Mayor Jim West in 2005. It would set up a system that would allow the City Council to send a recall to voters without the court review and signature-gathering required by state law.

County voters are also being asked what they think about the Spokane Transit Authority spending money on a proposed light rail system.

Voters have until Nov. 7 to mark their ballots and put them in the mail, but the envelopes must be postmarked by that day. Also on that day, counties will have service centers where signed ballots can be dropped off and voters who have misplaced the ballot they were sent can cast a replacement ballot.