Secretary of State Predicts 47% Turnout, Despite Error That May Have Lost 21,000 Ballots

this is a photo of my actual voters' pamphlet.

In a statement issued last week, the Secretary of State, Sam Reed, predicted that voter turnout for today's election would probably fall just short of half of the State of Washington's eligible population--a marked decline over recent years.

Reed noted that the decline will likely be due to the fact that this year's is technically an "off" year, or, a year with no major races or "hotly debated" matters. This year's is also the first General Election to feature vote-by-mail as the only option, with no polling places in the State.

However, the memo from Reed does not take into account a glitch which may have caused as many as 21,000 residents to not receive ballots. The glitch occurred in the Department of Licensing's website, the Times reports, and may have impacted the ballots of those who recently used the website to register or update their addresses. Reed's office estimates that as many as 14,800 address changes were not recorded, and that close to 6,000 others may have updated their voter information or registration, and, as a result, not received their ballots, KOMO reports.

For weeks, residents of the State have been instructed to call Reed's office to locate their missing ballot by various voting websites--but the message may not have reached the masses in time. In fact, the story of just how widespread this error was didn't hit the headlines until yesterday, despite anecdotal evidence that thousands of ballots had mysteriously gone missing.

But it's not entirely too late- those who still have not received a ballot may cast a "provisional ballot" in person at various locations, before the close of business today.

If you did received your ballot, you can drop it off at locations around town, or put it in a USPS mailbox before final pick-up.