Editorial: Voters should take time to vote

In a non-presidential election year, more voters tend to let their mailed ballots sit under piles of paperwork until it’s too late. It shouldn’t be the case, but return percentages under the circumstances often are terribly low.

Take the August primary as an example. When the countywide election was made official last week, the Pierce County Auditor’s Office reported a voter turnout of 19.2 percent. Out of more than 408,000 registered voters, a little more than 78,500 votes were cast.

In several cases, the primary only served to narrow candidates to a top two for November’s general election. But other races, like the Key Peninsula Fire Department’s Proposition 1, were decided by less than one-fifth of the electorate.

KPFD’s levy lid lift proposition, which voters will have another opportunity to pass or fail in November, received a total of just 3,366 votes, which really puts the microscope on each “yes” or “no.”

Consider this: While the proposition failed by about a 12 percent margin (56 percent to 44 percent), it would have only taken 212 additional votes for the lid lift levy to pass.

Voters should take the next eight weeks to educate themselves on ballot issues, then vote on Nov. 3.