The turnout countywide in the Feb. 14 special election, which includes three school measures in Renton, is running behind what’s normally expected this deep into an election, according to the King County Elections Office.

Kim van Ekstrom, an elections spokeswoman, said it’s possible voters are just taking their time or waiting for some reason to return their ballots.

But as of Tuesday about 33,000 ballots had been returned countywide out of about 187,000 ballots mailed out, she said. That’s about 8,000 to 9,000 fewer than what would be expected to be returned.

There are no ballot-return numbers specifically for the Renton School District, but the county did mail out 56,421 ballots to voters in the district, she said.

A turnout of about 38 percent was projected.

Van Ekstrom also noted that about twice as many voters as usual are forgetting to sign their ballots. That percentage is typically small in any case, she said.

The mail-in ballots must be postmarked no later than Feb. 14.