If you’re one of the 250,622 people registered to vote in the Aug. 4 primary, your ballot should arrive no later than in today’s mail. Now it’s time to do your civic duty by filling it out and returning it by the deadline. (If it hasn’t arrived, call 360-397-2345 to request a replacement.)
Assuming history repeats itself, at least half of these ballots will end up in the recycling bin. That’s a shame. Votes are critically important in local races.
Most of us who vote will choose to put a stamp on it and drop it in the mailbox by Election Day, or return it by 8 p.m. to a drop-off site. A new option this year is to take it to 24-hour drop boxes at Battle Ground City Hall and the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center, or the big red box that has been at 14th and Esther streets downtown for several years now.
There are five local races on the ballot. Two are for county council, one for Vancouver City Council, and one each in the Port of Vancouver and Battle Ground school board. In Washington, the top two vote-getters in each primary race will advance to the Nov. 3 general election, regardless of party affiliation.
