Turnout remains low heading into Tuesday’s midterm election

With only a few days to go until Election Day, 68 percent of registered voters in Washington state have yet to return their ballots.

At this point in the last midterm election in 2018, turnout in the state was about 6 percent higher than it is now.

Campaign volunteers are busy knocking on doors, phone banking and sending out a final wave of ads over the weekend and into Monday.

During the 2018 midterms, about 40 percent of all votes in Washington came in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of election week. To be counted, ballots must be postmarked or physically returned by Tuesday.

This year, the returns so far vary widely by age. While about 50 percent of retirement-age voters, those 65 or older, have turned in ballots, only 1 in 10 voters under the age of 35 had voted as of Friday.

But experts say younger voters are also more likely to return ballots closer to the deadline and to use drop boxes on Election Day.

Turnout also varies by county. For example, the typically red counties in the 8th Congressional District have higher turnout to this point than King County.

King County favored Democrat Kim Schrier in 2020 and helped carry her to victory. Schrier won the 8th by more than 14,000 votes in 2020, reliant primarily on voters in King and Pierce counties.

This year, Schrier is facing a new Republican challenger, Matt Larkin of Tacoma.

With only a few days to go, election officials recommend that voters use drop boxes to make sure their ballots are accepted in time and counted.

Drop boxes close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. People waiting to drop off their ballots will be allowed to complete the process if they’re in line by that deadline.