About 520,000 ballots to make up initial release in record-setting election

Published 5:22 pm Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Democracy was at work in Renton Tuesday, as workers, including volunteers, in rain gear steered voters to the ballot drop-off box outside and as temporary paid workers inside opened and counted hundreds of thousands of ballots.

It’s estimated that about 520,000 ballots will make up the initial release of results at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday night in the general election. That’s about half of the county’s 1.1 million registered voters.

“This is a record-setting election for King County,” said Sherril Huff, Director of Elections. “Not only have we set a new record for number of voters registered this year, we will also have more ballots counted for tonight’s results report than in any previous election, including the 2008 presidential election when we still had polling places.”

Tuesday morning, the King County Elections Division had about 750,000 ballots in its Renton headquarters, according to Katie Ross, an elections spokeswoman.

The process was going smoothly, she said.

Ballots must be turned in no later than 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters can drop off ballots at drop boxes and drop-off vans scattered around the county.

The results on the King County elections website only reflect county results. The Secretary of State’s website has the complete results for statewide races and for legislative races that cross county lines.

After Tuesday night, results will be posted at 4:30 p.m. daily, except for Veterans Day on Nov. 12 and the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 22 and 23.

The election will be certified on Tuesday, Nov. 27.