It seems that a year can’t go by in Washington without a change in the state’s election laws.

For example, voting by mail has become the rule rather than the exception. The September primary election has been moved up to August. General election nominations now go to the top two primary finishers, regardless of party. What next?

The latest idea is to move the general election date forward a day. Or four. Or more.

Advocates don’t describe it quite that way, but that would be the effect.

Specifically, the proposal that’s getting traction would be to require that ballots be physically in election officials’ hands by Election Day, not just postmarked by then. Since almost all Washington voters now vote by mail, ballots would have to be mailed a day before the election, at the latest.

(All those who trust that a ballot mailed the Monday before election Tuesday would be delivered on time to be counted, raise your hands. Sunday? Saturday? Thought so.)

To be safe, ballots would have to be mailed no later than Friday, and even that would be no sure thing.

The urgency for change arises from the popularity of voting by mail, which state and county election officials hail as a cost-saving way to increase voter turnout. That, it’s done. But those last-minute ballots can take days to arrive, leaving candidates and the public to wait through prolonged uncertainty in a close race.

When near-universal voting by mail was a new experience, officials reported that large numbers of voters marked and returned their ballots practically as soon as they received them. This year, the secretary of state’s office reported that more and more voters were holding out until the deadline, watching the campaigns, taking their time to make a decision.

Voting by mail has been a success. But the trade-off that was understood and accepted from the beginning was that mailed ballots take a little longer to arrive.

As the secretary of state’s office observed, a substantial number of voters want to take full advantage of the campaign time to weigh their decisions. That kind of civic engagement should be celebrated, not punished.

If we have to wait a few extra days to know how a few contests turn out, let’s think of it as dramatic appeal and keep Election Day on Election Day.