Counting Those Who Count

Most Washingtonians got their ballots either Saturday in their post office boxes or perhaps delivered to street addresses today.  Service members and other overseas voters' ballots were mailed or emailed long ago.

UPDATE 1:
Two precincts receiving incorrect ballots are so proximate to JBLM, you might want to check with the Pierce County Auditor for correct ballots. More here: http://tacomachamber.blogspot.com/2012/10/two-precincts-in-10th-cd-receive-new.html

UPDATE 2:
1,422 voters will receive a letter alerting them to the error and instructing them to return the correct ballot.

Julie Anderson, Pierce County Auditor, briefed the Chamber's Military Affairs Forum on UOCAVA (Uniformed & Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) efforts by the Pierce County Auditor's Office.

There are 13,062 UOCAVA voters registered in Pierce County, 9,700 of which are assigned to JBLM and registered in Pierce County (others may be registered in Thurston or Yakima Counties).  That's from the 43,375 assigned soldiers and airmen plus 56,188 dependents who are potential voters. Of course, most reside (home of record) in another state.

Washington is in the Top Five (5th) states for numbers of UOCAVA voters, 56% of all UOCAVA ballots. 

Return ballots may be received anytime prior to election certification (65-day window), as long as they are dated on or before election day.  A postmark date is irrelevant.

Washington counted 99.1% of all its UOCAVA ballots returned - the bet of the Top Five states with the largest number of UOCAVA qualified voters.

Military Affairs Chairman Rick Stevens presented Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson with a Chamber challenge coin recognizing Pierce County's exemplary job in insuring our service members and overseas voters get count too!