Tuesday’s election in Washington could mirror 2016 turnout
Nov 6, 2018, 10:55 AM | Updated: 12:38 pm
Vote-by-mail in Washington has been around for years. (MyNorthwest)
(MyNorthwest)
Early indications show that Washington voter turnouts could be quite similar to the 2016 president election, and might even surpass that mark.
“We’re seeing really high turnout statewide,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman told KIRO Radio. “It’s exciting. It’s good. This is what all that money poured into our state is resulting in; is people being engaged.”
Wyman expects that voter turnout could hit nearly 80 percent after all votes are counted. Last week, the state saw about 35 percent turnout. But Wyman says that about half of the state’s ballots come in during election week.
“I anticipate we’ll be in the mid-70s, possibly as high as 80 percent,” Wyman said.
Voter turnout for the 2016 election, which included a presidential election, was 78.76 percent across Washington state — that includes 81.26 percent turnout in King County; 79.97 percent in Snohomish County; 74.45 percent in Pierce County; 77.66 percent in Thurston County; and 78.38 percent in Kitsap County.
In 2014, Washington state voter turnout was 54.16. And in 2012, it was 57.5 percent.
If voters have not received their ballot yet, there is still time. Drop boxes close promptly at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Or ballots must mailed and postmarked by Nov. 6. Voters can go to their county election office to get a ballot. Ballots can also be printed from myvote.wa.gov then turned in or mailed.
Washington election security
Wyman also touched on the state’s election security, saying they’ve seen numerous hackers attempt and fail to get into the state’s system since 2016.
“Apparently, this is the new normal,” Wyman said. “So it’s what we are fighting against every day.”
Hackers have attempted to get past the state’s firewall to access and change data.
“You would have to have a pretty good conspiracy going, and collusion going by election officials (to affect the election data),” she said. “There are a lot of cyber controls and psychical and dual controls to make sure people don’t tamper with our vote tallies.”
KIRO Radio contributed to this report.
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