Nearly 5 percent of registered voters in Clark County have already cast their ballots for the Nov. 3 general election, significantly outpacing figures from the previous presidential election cycles.
The Clark County Elections Office began mailing ballots to voters Friday. By Monday, the first day the office posted ballot totals, at least 15,909 of the county’s 318,966 eligible voters had submitted ballots.
Ballots are sent through the mail or deposited at drop boxes to be retrieved and processed by Clark County Elections Office workers.
For comparison, two days after ballots had been mailed for the November 2016 general election, the county reported 2,961 returned ballots. A total of 210,760 ballots were counted that year, representing a 77.25 percent turnout.
The first ballot return totals posted by the county are often some of the lowest. County Auditor Greg Kimsey said drop-box sites were heavily active Monday and that the total collected by the end of the day could “easily” increase by another 30,000 ballots.
“We know tomorrow we’re going to have a really big jump in the ballots we receive,” Kimsey said. “We don’t know what we’ll get in the mail tomorrow. But at that point, we will be significantly ahead of where we were in 2016.”
The early momentum in voter turnout this year is not surprising.
More than 50 percent of registered voters turned in ballots for the Aug. 4 primary election. In all other late summer primaries during presidential election years since 2000, turnout never rose above 40 percent and had been trending downward in recent cycles.
The elections office has predicted a historic turnout of nearly 90 percent before polls close Nov. 3.
In addition to the presidential election between President Donald Trump, a Republican, and former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, voters will have a say in several federal, state and local matters.
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, will again look to stave off Democratic challenger Carolyn Long after a narrow victory in 2018.
Voters will elect candidates for governor, secretary of state and legislative positions, as well other statewide offices. Two seats on the Clark County Council are in play, along with the 15-member Charter Review Commission.
Elections offices throughout the U.S. are anticipating longer-than-normal wait times for complete results during election week due to an increase in mail-in ballots. Kimsey said that voters casting their ballots early would help the office produce timelier results.
“It’s very, very helpful,” Kimsey said. “It’s a lot easier to get these ballots through the process when they come in at an even, smooth cycle.”
In other ballot-related news Monday, the Vancouver Police Department announced enhanced patrols around authorized ballot boxes throughout Vancouver through Election Day. Officers will also be looking for any nonauthorized ballot boxes.
Vancouver police will not be touching or handling ballots and will notify a Clark County elections official if a ballot box appears to be unsecured, the department said.
