Spokane County’s voter turnout so far double the statewide average, two weeks until Election Day

With two weeks to go, about 23% of registered Spokane County voters have cast their ballots for the Nov. 5 general election, putting the county far ahead of most of the state for turnout so far.

Those 84,000 voters who already mailed or dropped off their ballots helped Spokane County surpass all but two of the state’s 39 counties in terms of voter turnout this week.

Statewide, an average of 10% of Washington’s registered voters had cast their ballots as of Tuesday night, according to new data released by the Secretary of State’s office. Spokane County showed the third-highest voter turnout in the state, according to the data, trailing Mason County’s 28% turnout and Thurston County, which held a slim 0.1% lead over Spokane County’s turnout so far.

“Any time that you’re looking at a general election during a presidential year, we’re always going to get a lot higher turnout than we’ve worked with compared to any of the other years,” Washington Secretary of State’s office spokesperson Charlie Boisner said in a phone interview.

Boisner said the state anticipates voter turnout rates for the Nov. 5 election in Washington will look similar to the numbers from the general election four years ago. In 2020, nearly 4.2 million registered voters cast ballots in the Nov. 3 general election – more than in any election in state history.

The turnout rate for the 2020 general election – 84.14% of registered voters – was also less than half a percent shy of the state’s all-time voter turnout record set in 2008.

Of the Washington residents who have cast ballots so far, 54% have done so using a county drop box and 43% used the mail, according to the secretary of state’s office. The other roughly 3% have done so through alternative methods such as absentee voting.

Seniors in Washington showed the highest ballot return date on Tuesday, with 19% of the registered voters ages 65 and older statewide having returned their ballots so far. About 12% of voters in the 55 to 64 range had returned their ballots as of Tuesday, giving that age group the second-highest return rate so far.

For more information on the upcoming Nov. 5 election, visit the Spokane County Elections website. If you have a question about the voting process, email the Spokane County Elections Office at elections@spokanecounty.gov or call (509) 477-2320.