Counting Down To The August Primary Elections

I've added a new countdown to the top of the blog that tracks how many days until the Washington State primary elections on August 19.

It is currently only 64 days away.

Why is this important?

The "top two" primary system this year means that top candidates will be in head to head competition on the ballot against their biggest opponent. While for some the primary will be a scramble to survive just to make it to the general election ballot, in most races with a clear Democratic and Republican candidate, the primary will constitute an early barometer of the state of the race to come.

While primaries never get as many voters as a general election, as voters tend to feel the primary results don't matter as much, a show of strength in the primary against an eventual general election opponent will be highly prized by candidates looking to have a positive result behind them while campaigning and fundraising for the November election.

In races such as the Governor's race or the Congressional races, the results of the primary voting will be highly scrutinized by all observers. With the ability for all voters, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, to choose any candidate, how a candidate fares in the primary could have a significant effect on voter sentiment and support going forward.

With the primaries only 64 days away, that means there are only 34 more days to get registered by mail to vote, or 49 days to register in person to vote in them:

Registration Deadlines

The deadline for registering or transferring your voter registration is 30 days before an election. If you register by mail, your application must be postmarked by the 30-day cutoff or it will not become effective until after the election.

If you are not already registered to vote in Washington and you miss the 30-day deadline, you can register in person at your county elections department until 15 days before the election. Contact your County Auditor for assistance and information.

As we were so often reminded during the convention this weekend, elections are won by turnout, and the get out the vote (GOTV) effort cannot wait until October this year, it has to start happening now. That means talking to neighbors and walking your precinct to make sure people are registered to vote, and urging them to participate in the primary election. You can even register online.

The next 49 days will have an important impact on these races, and come late August we should have a good sense of just which races will be close, and which won't. If all the Democrats that were energized by the Presidential Primary and Caucuses vote in the August primary, it could bode well for Democratic candidates.