North Olympic Peninsula voters had returned as of Thursday more than 22 percent of ballots issued for this coming Tuesday’s election.
Jefferson County has 10 contested races and one measure on its ballot for the General Election. Clallam County has 12 contests.
All but one of Clallam County’s contested races have only two candidates listed, having had hopefuls culled by the top-two primary election in August. Clallam County Park & Recreation District 1 has three candidates for Position 3 because it did not have a primary election.
Two apparent races on the Clallam County ballot are functionally unopposed: the names of Stan McClain, running against County Commissioner Mark Ozias, and Sandra Kelso, running against Michael Rocha on the Sequim School Board, are listed despite the candidates having withdrawn form the races; they left the races too late for their names to be removed.
In Clallam County, 12,904 ballots had been returned out of 57,360 provided to registered voters for a voter turnout of 22.50 percent. Of those, 12,751 have been accepted with 153 challenged.
In Jefferson County, 6,295 ballots had been returned out of 27,699 registered voters who were provided ballots for a voter turnout of 22.73 percent. Of those, 6,214 ballots have been accepted, with 81 ballots challenged.
County auditors will contact voters if their ballots have been challenged because of missing signatures or other reasons to offer an opportunity to correct the issue.
New voters who have not registered online have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to register in person at auditors’ offices in Clallam and Jefferson counties in the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles, or the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St. in Port Townsend.
Registered voters may access their registration details and other voter information online at www.votewa.gov. Those needing a replacement ballot may also access a printable ballot via the secure website, or obtain one by contacting their county auditor.
Ballots must be postmarked or returned to an official ballot dropbox by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Official ballot drop boxes can be found at the following locations:
In Clallam County:
• Port Angeles: Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. On the courthouse circular drive; on the sidewalk across from disabled parking or inside at the Elections and Voter Registration Office.
• Clallam Bay: 16990 state Highway 112, in front of the Clallam Bay Branch Library.
• Forks: 500 E. Division St., outside Forks City Hall.
• Neah Bay: 1450 Bayview Ave., in front of Washburn’s General Store by the left Totem Pole.
• Sekiu: 15 Sekiu Airport Road (at the Clallam County Public Utility District No. 1 building in the drive-up lane).
• Carlsborg: 261461 U.S. Highway 101, near Sunny Farms adjacent to Mill Road.
• Sequim: 651 W. Washington St., in the parking lot.
In Jefferson County:
• Port Townsend: Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St. Drive-up Ballot Drop Box (Back parking lot); Walk-up Ballot Drop Box (in front of the Courthouse steps) or inside the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office.
• Brinnon: Brinnon Community Center, 306144 U.S. Highway 101, Brinnon.
• Quilcene: Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101, Quilcene.
• Port Hadlock: Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave.
• Nordland: Nordland Fire Station, 6633 Flagler Road.
• Port Ludlow: Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center, 93 Beaver Valley Road.
• Hoh Indian Nation: 2261 Lower Hoh Road, Forks, in front of the Tribal Police Center.
• Quinault Indian Nation (Queets): Queets Avenue, Forks, in front of the Queets Tribal Office.
Replacement ballots when voters have destroyed, spoiled, lost or not received the original ballot can be obtained thorugh local county auditors’ offices. Only one ballot is accepted per voter and election workers will verify signatures. Alternatively, replacement ballots can be delivered online by logging into VoteWA.gov.
Additional voter information can be found at VoteWA.gov; ClallamCountyWa.gov/Elections or Co.Jefferson.Wa.US/Elections.
Results will be posted after 8 p.m. Tuesday on county auditor websites and on the Peninsula Daily News website at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
Elections will be certified on Nov. 28.
