Election Day Alert
Tuesday, November 4 is Election Day nationwide. However, in Washington and Oregon, you will probably want to act ahead of time to make sure your vote counts.
In Oregon, your Vote-By-Mail ballot must be returned to your County Elections Office by 8:00 PM on Election Day. You may put it in the mail, but it must actually reach the Elections Office by Tuesday the 4th to count. If you are waiting until the weekend or later to cast your vote, you may want to make sure you drop it off in person to make sure your vote counts.
Most counties also have drop sites where you can deposit your ballot until 8:00PM. You will want to make sure you are actually dropping your ballot at an authorized location. A list of ballot locations can be found here..
In most of Washington State. outside of King and Pierce Counties, your Vote-By-Mail ballots must be postmarked by November 4 to count. Remember that this is not necessarily as simple a thing as getting it in a mailbox by that date, since the Post Office often takes mail to a central, out-of-town location to be postmarked, which may not happen until the next day. To be sure, Mail your ballot a day or two early, or find a local County Drop-off location. THIS LINK takes you to a map where you can find your county elections office, which will have a list of official drop-off locations on their individual sites.
If you live in King or Pierce Counties, you will be traveling to your usual polling place on Election Day, unless you received an absentee ballot ahead of time.
One way or the other, this is a rather important Election Day coming up. Wherever you are in Cascadia, you will be choosing from among candidates for President, US House of Representatives, a US Senator, State Senators and Representatives, and a myriad of local positions. All of these are important. All of these will decide whether we will get the government that we deserve in the future.
Most of us will also be voting on a wide range of ballot measures and initiative questions. Most will also be deciding on issuing bonds for a wide range of worthy projects throughout the Cascadia region. Please carefully consider your choices. Please look at what these issues really do. Look beyond the sound bites that we get from partisans advertisements.
You know that we have an important election coming up. This will not be a surprise to anyone. It is very important to take that final step and to actually vote. No one will vote for you. Your vote will count, and many recent local elections have been decided by rather small margins. Do your part. Follow through and vote.
Thank you.
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