Tuesday is (fill in the blank) day. Get’cher ballot in

Most readers can remember when Tuesday would’ve been called Election Day, capital letters included. Most of the ballots would have been cast between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Barring some problem with equipment, most of them would’ve been counted between 8 p.m. and some time in the wee hours of the next morning.

Washington state got away from that when it started down the road to mail-in ballots for folks who hadn’t fled for warmer climes or foreign shores. It now mails ballots out about three weeks before it starts counting them, and continues to count for another couple of weeks.

So what is Nov. 8 this year, anyway?

The Secretary of State’s office sent out a press release today, referring to it as “Washington’s 2011 ballot-return deadline, formerlly known as Election Day.” It’s accurate, but has sort of the same feeling as “the artist formerly known as Prince.”

Anyway, whatever you want to call it, 8 p.m. Tuesday is your last chance to vote. Get your ballot to a drop box by then, or get it in the mail soon enough that it is postmarked by then.

If you’re wondering where the drop boxes in Spokane County are, g o inside the blog for a list. If you live in another county, click here for a map that has phone numbers for all the county elections offices.

Can’t pick your county out of a map? Then you probably shouldn’t be voting, anyway.