Where and how to vote before or on Election Day in Spokane County

As Election Day approaches, Spokane County Elections Manager Mike McLaughlin is encouraging people to slip their sealed ballots into white ballot boxes that sit outside of local libraries and government buildings rather than mailing them in.

“If you’re turning in your vote on Sunday, use a ballot drop box,” McLaughlin said on Thursday.

Folks can put their ballots in any drop box in Washington, and the ballot will get back to the right county for counting, said Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton.

“Do not put ballots in the mail on Election Day,” Dalton said. “At that point, you have to find a drop box for your vote to be counted.”

As of 5 p.m. Friday, 65.5% of the ballots Spokane County received were mailed and 34.5% were from drop boxes. Maps to drop boxes can be found online on the Spokane County website.

McLaughlin said this year’s turnout is trending ahead of the 2021 election, which had a comparable ballot to this year’s. The 2021 election saw a 37% voter turnout in the county, McLaughlin said. The county elections office is anticipating 40% turnout this year, McLaughlin said.

As of Friday at 5 p.m., 43% of people voted by drop box and 56% of people voted by mail in Washington state.

Turnout for elections is often driven by campaigning, news coverage and what ballot issues locals are aware of, McLaughlin said. Last year, 21.58% of voters in Spokane County turned in their ballots and 15.6% of voters in Washington turned in theirs.

More people tend to vote when there is a presidential election, McLaughlin said.

“Some people just vote for the presidential election, some vote for every election,” he said. “Ideally, everyone would vote.”

McLaughlin anticipates those percentages will switch this week as Election Day, Nov. 4, approaches.

The county has already started processing ballots, according to McLaughlin, and election results will be available online Tuesday around 8 p.m.