Voters Stick to Pandemic-Era Habits, As Early Turnout Surges to Nearly Two-Thirds
With only six weeks until Election Day, the early voting numbers in Washington’s two biggest and most populous counties show that while turnout continues to rise, more voters are voting in person in lieu of voting absentee in the age of coronavirus.
In King County, which includes Seattle, as of Saturday morning nearly two-thirds of the state’s voters had cast their ballots, according to data released by Elections Northwest through mid-day on Tuesday. That number is up from 77 percent in the 2014 midterm elections and 60% as of Election Day 2017.
In King County, the numbers include a large number of early voters, who turned out at a rate of more than two-thirds, or 35,000 for absentee voters to 1,500 for early voters. Turnout in King County, the state’s largest, is up significantly from previous midterm elections when turnout was at 29.3% and 17.6% respectively. The election was originally supposed to be Nov. 6, but was postponed because of the crisis.
In King County, the turnout percentage for late-voting was at 27%, up significantly from 16% in 2014 and 14% in the 2016 election. Turnout for mail-in voters was at 25.3%, down from 33.4% in 2014 and 36% in 2016. In total, early voters in King County who turned out at least to one mail-in ballot account for about 60 percent of all the ballots that were returned, compared to less than half of mail-in votes.
In Snohomish County, which includes the Seattle suburb of Everett, roughly 40 percent of voters had cast their ballots as of Saturday morning. Turnout there had risen to nearly two-thirds from 31.4 percent in 2014, though it was significantly lower than 2016.
In the Snohomish County total, mail-in ballots accounted for about 25 percent of the votes, down significantly from 37.6 percent in 2014. Turn