Aug. 16 Primary Election Day: Where Do I Drop Off My Ballot?

Today is Aug. 16 — Primary Election Day — and ballots are due either in the mail or at any of the 11 ballot drop boxes throughout King County.

Perhaps the two most important issues on the primary ballot for Mercer Island voters is whether or not to re-elect King County Councilwoman Jane Hague to a sixth-term and whether-or-not to approve a (please see our voter guide below for candidates' response to Patch questionnaire).

Voting in Washington state now conducted completely by mail, so the best options for local voters would be to visit your local post office and postmark your ballot before 5 p.m. today. Mercer Island currently offers two locations: The in Town Center on the Island's North-end, or the located inside the Rite Aid in the Mercer Village Shopping Center on the Island's South-end (this site has limited hours, click here for hours of service).

Without posting your ballot by the end of the business day, the only other option is to drop your ballot at one of King County's Ballot Drop Boxes before 8 p.m. There aren't any on Mercer Island, so the nearest location is at the King County Administration Building, at 500 4th Avenue in Seattle. Other locations in Bellevue, Issaquah and Renton can be found by visiting the King County Elections Website.

After 8 p.m., King County will release one batch of election results at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, according to Kim van Ekstrom, chief communications manager for King County Elections.

Mercer Island Patch will begin posting the results of the partial count as soon as they are available. The county will then update daily by 4:30 p.m. until the election is certified on Aug. 31.

Ballots typically take about 1-2 days to process once received, so ballots put into drop boxes on Tuesday will likely be counted Thursday or Friday.

Primary turnout was projected at 52 percent of registered voters, or about 565,000. 

In their own words

Click to read the candidates' response to Patch questionnaire.