Do you know where your absentee ballot is?

I figure with the way things have been going, your vote could be just about anywhere.

So, in keeping with the spirit of King County Election officials, I went off to look for those stray bits of democracy that could help answer the contentious question of who will be our next governor.

Those new fancy (and very expensive) automatic toilets down in Pioneer Square seemed a semi-logical place to look.

It's only a few blocks from the courthouse, and I figure election officials would be down here with some frequency.

Alas, if there were any absentee ballots in those automated outhouses, they were definitely uncountable.

I spotted a woman with large pockets at the Westlake Mall.

She obligingly went through her coat in search of stray ballots.

All she turned up was some tissues.

I should send them to Paul Berendt because he seems to need it most.

A nice gentleman agreed to scrounge around in his backpack, thinking an absentee envelope might be discovered.

He thought he'd found a ballot, but it turned out to be a spare diaper for his grandson.

I should donate that to Chris Vance, for obvious reasons.

I looked through trash bins and dumpsters; newspaper kiosks and bus shelters.

My quest for stray ballots ended without finding a one.

Maybe that's because King County election officials finally found them all.

Or maybe it's because I didn't get to search Christine Gregoire's purse, or Dino Rossi's briefcase.

Want to share your thoughts with Ken Schram? You can e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com