PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Ballots are out and voters are already returning them in Oregon and Washington, with 13 days to go until Election Day.
In Oregon, the Secretary of State’s Office began mailing ballots to voters on Oct. 19 and in Washington, the 18-day voting period began on Oct. 21.
For anyone who didn’t receive a ballot in the mail both Oregon and Washington have information online about how to replace it.
Because the two states operate with vote-by-mail systems, voters can mail in or bring their completed ballots to drop-off locations any time before Election Day, which means the states and counties already have numbers on how many people have voted.
In Oregon, as of Wednesday, 5.4% of registered voters had already submitted their ballots.
Multnomah County reported 5.91% had returned their ballots.
Washington County’s voter turnout percentage was a bit higher Wednesday, at 6.33% and Clackamas County was even higher than that at 8.1%.
Marion County had just over 15,000 people who had returned their ballots by Wednesday, putting their voter participation at 6.79% so far.
In Washington state’s Clark County, more than 10,000 people have submitted their ballots with a turnout percentage of 4.31%
In both Oregon and Washington, completed ballots submitted in the mail must be postmarked by Election Day or returned to an official ballot drop box site by 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is November 8.