Online tools to help you learn more before casting your ballot

SEATTLE – We’re just four days out from Election Day and already 1.6 million people in Washington have turned in their ballots.  That’s 37% voter turnout.  Friday morning, Washington Secretary State Kim Wyman gave an update about this election season.  She says she’s had a positive outlook since voter registration started.

“We saw some record breaking days in voter registration where we saw in one day 50,000 people used out online tool to register to vote,” said Wyman.



Now Wyman says she’s expecting record turnout with many local elections and initiatives on the ballot.

Caterina Ferraro has one of the 2.7 million ballots still out.  She says it’s not because she doesn’t want to vote.

“There are a lot of local initiatives on the ballot that I don’t feel familiar enough with to make a decision on and I want to be thorough,” said registered voter Caterina Ferraro.

Head over to tvw.org.  The state-run website with a video voters’ guide explains every race and every ballot initiative and referendum, including Initiative 1433 on state minimum wage and paid sick leave.  Click on ‘Yes’ to hear why you should vote for it.

“It will also boost our local economy and help local businesses and putting more money in the pockets of almost one million workers,” said Angelica Gonzalez, a MomsRising member and single mom from Tacoma.

Click on ‘No’ to hear the opposition.

“This one size fits all proposal will not work for certain industries or in most communities. Many young workers seeing a job will also lose out,” said No on I-1433 Spokeswoman Yvette Ollada.

You can use the same process for any item on your ballot.

“In terms of race, politics, there are a lot of initiatives,” said Miguel Willis who already voted.

Now, Miguel Willis can sit back and play a casual game of chess at Westlake Plaza because he’s done his civic duty by voting early.

“I thought the job was done. I counted my vote, one vote,” said Willis.

You can also download an app called ‘My Vote.’  You can check your voter registration status, read a voters’ guide and track your ballot.  Back in 2014, 11,000 ballots were rejected because they were not postmarked by the deadline.  So make sure you get your ballot postmarked by Tuesday or taken to a drop-off location by Tuesday 8pm.