Big return of ballots: The 2018 election is a hit across Washington

Jimmy Steele waits for ballots for King County Elections near a ballot dropbox outside Schmitz Hall at University of Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Jimmy Steele waits for ballots for King County Elections near a ballot dropbox outside Schmitz Hall at University of Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Big return of ballots: The 2018 election is a hit across Washington 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

The pivotal 2018 midterm election appears to be a hit with Washington voters, faced with hot U.S. House races and initiatives being watched across America.

With five days left to vote, 446,716 or more than a third of King County's 1.289 million registered voters have already mailed in or dropped off their ballots. Turnout figures at this stage are far higher than the 2010 and 2014 mid-term elections and not far short of the presidential election two years ago.

The percentage of those who have voted, just over 30 percent, is exceeded in Spokane County, center of the hot 5th District U.S. House race between Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Democratic challenger Lisa Brown.

A third of Spokane County's 312,942 registered voters have returned their ballots. Just to the west, conservative Lincoln County tops the state with 46.9 percent of its voters having already voted.

Statewide, s of midday on Thursday, 1,356,829 voters had returned ballots, 31 percent of the Evergreen State's 4.328 million voters.

High turnout figures span the state's ideological spectrum.

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Liberal, Democratic Jefferson County on the Olympic Peninsula comes in second behind Lincoln with 45.3 percent already having voted.

While negative TV spots have filled the airwaves, the 2018 election is also being fought on the phones and at the doorsteps. It is a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) battle.

As an example, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will lead a South Sound GOTV tour for Democrats on Friday with stops in Tacoma, Federal Way and Auburn.

She will be joined in Federal Way by educator Claire Wilson, the Democrats' candidate in the 30th District against GOP State Sen. Mark Miloscia. The Auburn stop will feature 8th Congressional District candidate Dr. Kim Schrier.

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According to figures posted Wednesday night, 93,192 out of 254,011 8th District voters in King County have voted.

The 8th District spans the Cascades to include two Republican-leaning Central Washington counties: 38.1 percent of Chelan County voters have turned in or mailed in ballots, along with 37.3 percent of voters in Kittitas County. The figures should bring a smile to the face of Republican candidate Dino Rossi.

In the 5th District, a quartet of sparsely populated rural counties that favored McMorris Rodgers in the August primary -- Lincoln, Columbia, Garfield and Pend Oreille Counties -- have seen more than a third of voters return their ballots.

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It has been a long time since Washington saw a mid-term election this interesting.

The state saw no hotly contested contests for Congress in 2014. Washington has three this year. The open 8th District has drawn more than $25 million in spending, as Schrier and Rossi have fought it out, with a supporting cast of SuperPACs polluting the airwaves.

Two lawmakers whose seats were once classified "Safe Republican," McMorris Rodgers and U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., have faced still challenges. WSU-Vancouver Prof. Carolyn Long has gained on Herrera Beutler, to the point where SuperPACS have discovered Southwest Washington.

The state is also the scene of nationally watched initiative battles.

If Initiative 1631 passes -- and the petroleum industry is spending $31 million to keep it from passing -- Washington would be the first state in America to enact a polluters-pay fee on carbon emissions.

Curiously, in a year that has seen massacres in Parkland and Pittsburgh, Washington is one state with a gun safety initiative on the ballot. I-1639 would raise to 21 the minimum age for purchase of an assault rifle, and require firearms safety training.

It's a big dose of democracy, in a state whose officials have resisted policies of the Trump administration.

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