Long lines greet early voters
RENTON, Wash. -- Going to cast an early ballot in King County? You're not alone. Lines at the King County election headquarters in Renton began forming before dawn Monday.
It's an indication of the incredible turnout expected in this year's election, fueled by the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain, and the neck-and-neck rematch race for our state's governor's office between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi.
Robert Bowen got his place in line Monday at 6 a.m.
"It's really early for me, but that's OK," he said. "It's worth it; it's worth the vote, yes."
This isn't the first time Bowen has tried to vote early in this election.
"I came here on Saturday and Friday both and the lines were so bad that it was just ridiculous," he said.
So today, he rolled out of bed even earlier to secure a good spot in line.
"I'm third in line now."
Not even the Seattle rain could stop people from lining up outside the King County election headquarters -- the one place King County voters can vote early in person. Election officials say they've never seen early voter turnout like this.
"I certainly didn't expect such a line coming into work this morning," said election worker Megan Coppersmith. "We had a ton of early voters come in over the weekend."
King County election officials are expecting an 85 percent turnout in their county -- that would be a record.
"They want to vote," Coppersmith said. "They're excited about the process they're excited to be a part of the process and they're excited to be here and making sure that their vote does count."
Voter Gregory Aldrich said he's seen over the last elections how literally a handful of votes have changed the president of the country. "So it's very important to me to get out here and make sure my vote is cast," he said.
We found others dropping off their ballots at the drop box.
"There's a lot less pressure," said Craig Anderson. "You can sit and make out your ballot -- my wife and I do at the same time; we discuss things even as we fill it out, there's no pressure waiting in line."
More than 64 percent of Washington voters will cast their ballot by mail. All the more reason to do that, election officials say, as voters won't have to worry about long lines and wait times at the polls on Tuesday.
"In King County, the bulk of the voters do vote by mail," Coppersmith said. "(But) we have 392 polling places that are open (Tuesday) with over 5,000 polling workers all ready to serve the voters, and we just want voters to have the most convenient voting experience possible and that would be probably at their polling place." She added they are not expecting lines nearly as long as throughout the rest of the country.
You can drop your ballots at one of 10 drop boxes across King County. (See list here.) The deadline to do that is before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Coppersmith stressed that if you are mailing in your ballot, and want to drop it off in a blue postal drop box, make sure you check the pick up time on that box. It has to be post marked on Tuesday or it won't count, so if you drop the ballot in the box after the last pickup time on Tuesday, chances are it won't be counted.
If you're going to vote at your polling place, Coppersmith says to make sure to research and find out which polling place you need to go to, as it'll be much easier.
If you can't get to your assigned polling place, you can go to any other voting location and cast a provisional ballot, which will be counted once your registration is verified by the county.
She also said to make sure your signature on the oath line of the signature envelope matches the signature you used to register - as you would sign a business form, not an autograph.
For More Information:
King County Elections
Other county voting information -- www.secstate.wa.gov
It's an indication of the incredible turnout expected in this year's election, fueled by the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain, and the neck-and-neck rematch race for our state's governor's office between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi.
Robert Bowen got his place in line Monday at 6 a.m.
"It's really early for me, but that's OK," he said. "It's worth it; it's worth the vote, yes."
This isn't the first time Bowen has tried to vote early in this election.
"I came here on Saturday and Friday both and the lines were so bad that it was just ridiculous," he said.
So today, he rolled out of bed even earlier to secure a good spot in line.
"I'm third in line now."
Not even the Seattle rain could stop people from lining up outside the King County election headquarters -- the one place King County voters can vote early in person. Election officials say they've never seen early voter turnout like this.
"I certainly didn't expect such a line coming into work this morning," said election worker Megan Coppersmith. "We had a ton of early voters come in over the weekend."
King County election officials are expecting an 85 percent turnout in their county -- that would be a record.
"They want to vote," Coppersmith said. "They're excited about the process they're excited to be a part of the process and they're excited to be here and making sure that their vote does count."
Voter Gregory Aldrich said he's seen over the last elections how literally a handful of votes have changed the president of the country. "So it's very important to me to get out here and make sure my vote is cast," he said.
We found others dropping off their ballots at the drop box.
"There's a lot less pressure," said Craig Anderson. "You can sit and make out your ballot -- my wife and I do at the same time; we discuss things even as we fill it out, there's no pressure waiting in line."
More than 64 percent of Washington voters will cast their ballot by mail. All the more reason to do that, election officials say, as voters won't have to worry about long lines and wait times at the polls on Tuesday.
"In King County, the bulk of the voters do vote by mail," Coppersmith said. "(But) we have 392 polling places that are open (Tuesday) with over 5,000 polling workers all ready to serve the voters, and we just want voters to have the most convenient voting experience possible and that would be probably at their polling place." She added they are not expecting lines nearly as long as throughout the rest of the country.
You can drop your ballots at one of 10 drop boxes across King County. (See list here.) The deadline to do that is before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Coppersmith stressed that if you are mailing in your ballot, and want to drop it off in a blue postal drop box, make sure you check the pick up time on that box. It has to be post marked on Tuesday or it won't count, so if you drop the ballot in the box after the last pickup time on Tuesday, chances are it won't be counted.
If you're going to vote at your polling place, Coppersmith says to make sure to research and find out which polling place you need to go to, as it'll be much easier.
If you can't get to your assigned polling place, you can go to any other voting location and cast a provisional ballot, which will be counted once your registration is verified by the county.
She also said to make sure your signature on the oath line of the signature envelope matches the signature you used to register - as you would sign a business form, not an autograph.
For More Information:
King County Elections
Other county voting information -- www.secstate.wa.gov
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