Ballots trickle in; county's target: 56%

Voters have been sending in their ballots at a much slower rate than forecast, as King County wraps up its first vote-by-mail general election today.

County officials have predicted a turnout of 56 percent, pushed by competitive races between Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison for county executive; Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan for Seattle mayor; and high interest in state Referendum 71 and Initiative 1033.

Trends point to a 50 percent ballot-return rate, but the county is sticking with its higher forecast, said county elections-division spokeswoman Megan Coppersmith.

"We are thinking right now that people are waiting until the last minute, to choose one of the candidates," she said.

Ballots must be postmarked today or hand-delivered to a county drop-off site.

As of Saturday, only 218,436 ballots had arrived at the county elections division — or 20 percent of the 1.08 million sent out.

3 disability sites

King County has three sites where people with disabilities can vote, with help from staffers, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. These are in Seattle at Union Station, 401 S. Jackson St.; in Tukwila at 9010 E. Marginal Way S. near Boeing Field; and Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E.

People who lost their ballots may vote in person at these locations, which also will have drop boxes for people to use instead of mailing a ballot.

Statewide, the predicted 51 percent turnout also might not materialize.

"We've noticed soft and late returns coming in," said David Ammons, spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed. Participation is far below the record 85 percent in the 2008 presidential-year election.

"In many parts of the state, the caliber and interest value of the local contests is not what it is some years," Ammons said.

Gone is the election-night drama of past years — when votes from polling places were updated several times, to cheers or groans at candidate gatherings.

With an all-mail election, there will be only one release of vote totals from King County tonight, at 8:15. That will include ballots received as of Saturday and probably some from Monday.

Results will be updated throughout the week.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631, mlindblom@seattletimes.com