Election Day has arrived.
Or rather, today is the last chance 46,665 Clallam County voters have in the 20-day ballot-casting cycle to mail in or drop off their ballots for their choices to be valid.
Ballots, which were mailed to voters Oct. 16, must be mailed back to the Clallam County Auditor’s Office with today’s postmark or dropped off by 8 p.m. at designated drop boxes in Forks, Sequim or at the courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Drop boxes also are located in the Forks District Court lobby at 502 E. Division St. and at Sequim City Hall at 152 W. Cedar St.
Ballots also can be hand-delivered to the courthouse by 8 p.m. today.
There were 15,351 ballots returned to the Auditor’s Office as of Monday, or 33 percent of those mailed out Oct. 16.
Results will be posted shortly after 8 p.m. today, after the first count, at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
“You should have a pretty good idea [tonight] of who the winners are except in very close races,” County Auditor Patty Rosand said.
“If the difference is less than 5 percent, I wouldn’t bank on the results.”
Rosand will conduct another ballot count Friday and every three days after that unless 500 or more ballots need to be counted, in which case they will be counted that day, she said Monday.
The courthouse will be closed Monday for Veterans Day.
The election must be certified Nov. 26.
Rosand said 50 percent of ballots are often returned by the Monday before Election Day.
She said the lesser count might be due in part to the inclusion of five nonbinding statewide advisory measures that ask voters if tax measures already approved by the state Legislature should be repealed or maintained.
The advisory measures, which are required by law, have befuddled some voters.
“It’s slow, but voters have a lot of confusion over those advisory ballot issues, and they are trying to work through them.
“They are saying it’s very confusing the way it’s worded.
“They are just uncomfortable with what they are actually voting on,” Rosand added.
“There has been, in the past, several instances where there has been a breaking story at the last minute and they wish they had waited to vote, and some people just covet the Election Day notion and vote on Election Day.
In recent elections, voters also have been waiting until closer to actual Election Day to cast their ballots.
“We have seen a trend toward people waiting to vote, waiting for last-minute information or just procrastinating,” Rosand said.
County voters will decide on nine contested races.
But the only countywide race is between event-services company co-owner Del DelaBarre and Port of Port Angeles Business Development Director Colleen McAleer.
They are vying for a seat on the port commission, a position held by Paul McHugh, who failed to advance to the general election by coming in third in the Aug. 6 primary election.
Two of three ballot measures also are countywide — and also are port-related.
Voters are being asked if they want to expand the three-seat port board to five positions and shorten the commissioners’ six-year terms to four years.
County Fire District No. 2 also is asking district voters to approve a property tax levy lid lift, or increase, of 39 cents per $1,000 of property valuation.
In addition to local elections, statewide Initiative 522 would require labeling of genetically engineered products and applies to most raw agricultural commodities, processed foods and seeds and seed stocks.
Statewide Initiative 517 concerns procedures and guidelines for initiatives and referendums.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.