PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has awarded a $45,251 contract to Everett-based K&H Printers for printing ballots for the Nov. 6 general election.
Commissioners approved the personal services contract by a 3-0 vote Tuesday.
County Auditor Patty Rosand said there were 45,852 registered voters in the county as of Wednesday.
Under the contract, K&H will print 47,000 regular ballots and 2,067 military and overseas ballots.
General election ballots will be mailed to the military Sept. 21 and to all other registered voters Oct. 17.
Rosand said she expects an 85 percent turnout for the election this November. Last year’s general election had a 58.7 percent turnout in Clallam County.
Voter turnout tends to swell in presidential election years, Rosand said.
“We always get busy,” she said.
“We’ll increase our voter registration by a couple thousand. We’ll have people coming in to register and trying to vote right up to Election Day.”
The 2008 presidential election saw an 85.6 percent turnout in Clallam County.
The turnout dropped to 56.2 percent for the 2009 general election and climbed back to 74.7 percent in 2010.
K&H Printers has handled Clallam County ballots for general, primary and special elections since Rosand took office in 2006.
At that time, election staff were ordering ballots from one business, addressing the envelopes at another business and packing the envelopes themselves.
K&H makes the envelopes, prints the ballots and assembles them for mailing.
“All we do is create the PDF,” Rosand said.
Turnouts for earlier presidential elections in Clallam County were 70.8 percent in 1976, 78.1 percent in 1980, 77.5 percent in 1984, 77.3 percent in 1988, 83.8 percent in 1992, 72.8 percent in 1996, 81.9 percent in 2000 and 85.8 percent in 2004.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
