One week to Election Day as Seattle, King County ballots begin flowing in

Election Day is just a week away, with King County reporting just over 9% of ballots having been returned as of Monday evening.

Seattle election preview: Mayoral, city attorney candidates make their case

Ballots need to either be in a designated drop box or postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 2, with the initial early count of results expected later that evening.

The most recent return statistics from King County Elections show that 11% of Seattle ballots have been returned. Broken out by council districts, District 3 (represented by Councilmember Kshama Sawant) has the highest return rate so far at 12%, followed by District 6 (Dan Strauss) at 11.6%, and District 7 (Andrew Lewis) at 11.5%.

The city also just logged its most single-day returns since ballots were first sent out, taking in just over 14,000 ballots on Monday alone.

In terms of demographics, a large majority of Seattle ballots submitted so far have come from those ages 65 and up, totaling 22,630 ballots. The next highest return rate comes from the 55 to 64-year-old range at just under 10,000 ballots, followed by 35-44 at 9,301, and 45-54 at 8,948. The lowest number of returned ballots comes from those between the ages of of 18 and 24 at just 1,751.

New PAC with cast of familiar faces floods money into Seattle City Attorney race

The expectation is that turnout will ramp up as we continue to approach Election Day. In past off-year elections, King County’s general election voter turnout rate has ranged between 40% and 50%. The last Seattle mayoral election in 2017 saw roughly 50% of the city’s registered voters return their ballots.

Seattle voters will decide on a handful of prominent races in 2021, including mayor, two at-large city council seats, and city attorney. The King County Executive seat is also on the ballot, as are three county council seats.

Follow @NickNorthwest