Spokane County Auditor’s Office to send out ‘about 377,000’ ballots this week ahead of primary

The Spokane County Auditor’s Office will send out “about 377,000” ballots to registered voters ahead of the August primary starting Wednesday, Auditor Vicky Dalton said Tuesday, though the number of ballots will likely increase before the election.

The ballots for the Aug. 4 primary will include candidates for state, federal and local elected office, with the top two candidates in each race advancing to the November general election. Among the races that will appear on the primary ballot are four seats on the state Supreme Court, the race for 5th Congressional District and seats in both the state House of Representatives and Senate.

Results will be available at around 8:15 p.m. on election night, and the election will be certified on Aug. 18.

Dalton said registered voters should begin to see their ballots arrive starting Thursday, with more being delivered through the weekend. If you haven’t received your ballot by July 27, Dalton said to call the auditor’s office at 509-477-2320.

While recent headlines mention new deadlines to submit ballots, Dalton said “at this point, there is nothing that’s going to affect the primary election.”

“So as far as Washington’s vote-by-mail for this election, we are business as usual,” Dalton said.

Still, the auditor’s office is advising voters who want to return their ballots via mail to do so early because of increasing delays by the United States Postal Service. Dalton said voters should use one of the 27 ballot drop boxes throughout the county rather than returning them via the mail starting about a week before the election.

A list of ballot drop boxes can be found at spokanecounty.gov/187/Ballot-Drop-Box-Locations.

“Over the last few years, delivery time by the U.S. Postal Service has been steadily increasing,” Dalton said. “And so for the last couple of years, we’ve been recommending that people start using our drop boxes about a week before Election Day.”

Ballots will be collected nightly from ballot drop boxes, and will be accepted until 8 p.m. on Election Day. A stamp is not required to return a ballot at a drop box.

Dalton said “if for some reason” a voter cannot submit their ballot to a drop box within this window, they should walk their ballot into a post office and ask for that day’s postmark.