Did You Vote in November? If So You Were in The Minority in Wa

If you're a registered voter in Yakima County and you ignored the November general election you helped the Washington set a new record.

State elections officials says the turnout was a low 36.41% which they say was the lowest turnout since the 1930's when the state started record keeping.

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YAKIMA HAD THE LOWEST TURNOUT IN THE STATE OF WA

Along with a low voter turnout number statewide Yakima County had the lowest turnout in the state at  25.8%.
Yakima County Auditor Charles Ross says 33,149 ballots were returned for the election after his office sent out 128,382 ballots to registered voters. That means that thousands of ballots paid for by Yakima taxpayers were thrown away or recycled rather than being voted.

MANY PEOPLE ON VOTER ROLLS HAVE NO INTENTION OF VOTING

Ross says some people have no intention of voting in any election even though they're a registered voter. He says thousands of people are added to the voter rolls by simply going through the process of getting an ID or drivers license every year.

ODDLY ENOUGH DRIVERS MUST OPT OUT AND MANY DON'T EVEN KNOW THEY'RE REGISTERED VOTERS

The state's motor voter law is an opt out law. In other words people are automatically added to voter rolls if they qualify and meet all the standards. A person must opt out or tell the Department of Licensing that you don't want to be a registered voter.
Ross says when people are automatically registered even though they have no intention of voting voter rolls grow while participation suffers and grows smaller every election season.

ARE YOU REGISTERED TO VOTE? IF NOT MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION TODAY

There's no deadline to register to vote. You can register today online at the secretary of states officehttps://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/register.aspx or at the Yakima County Auditors Office inside the Yakima County Courthouse.
If you go inside the Yakima County Courthouse be prepared to go through security screening.

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