Pierce County Reports Surge In Early Voting For 2020 Election

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — On Friday, Pierce County mailed out ballots to some 560,000 registered voters across the south sound. Now, they're already reporting a surge in voting compared with the same time the last presidential election.

Monday evening the Pierce County Auditor's Office confirmed that it had received a total of 37,306 ballots by Monday, just shy of three times the 12,623 ballots they had received by Oct. 19, 2020.

That's a massive jump, but hardly a surprise. Patch spoke with Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson shortly before ballots were mailed out. Anderson says her office projects that 85 percent of those voters will cast their ballots, but is prepared for the possibility of a 90 percent turnout.

"We are drowning in a good way, in a good way. We were projecting 550,00 registered voters for this election, and we will exceed that by [October 9], and voters still have plenty of time to register," Anderson said. "I'm projecting conservatively 560,000 registered voters for Pierce County."

Related: Pierce County Ballots Mailed: Here's What To Know For 2020

So far, Pierce County's ballots appear somewhat proportional to their neighbors to the north in King County. King County officials reported collecting nearly 90,000 ballots by the same time Monday, though with 1.4 million registered voters, King County also has just under three times the voters Pierce does.

These record results are coming in even before some Pierce County residents have had time to receive their ballot. For some homes the ballot may still be in the mail— the auditor says not to worry unless the ballot hasn't shown up by Friday.

"If you haven't received a ballot by October 23rd, give us a call 253-798-VOTE (8683) or email us, and we'll do some research, and if necessary we'll mail you a replacement ballot," Anderson said. "We'll cancel the first one that we issued, and mail you a second one."

As for those who have received their ballot and still not cast their vote, officials say sooner will always be better than later.

"Although November the third is Election Day, I call that an election deadline," Anderson said. "You've got 18 days to vote, vote as early as you can. We don't want to rush anybody, but based on my conversations and word on the street, people have pretty much made up their minds, so there's no advantage to delay and it only hampers the election process."

Helpful links for Pierce County voters:

• Register to vote or update registration online
• Find the nearest drop box location
• Read the state and county voters' pamphlets
• Request a ballot replacement