Clark County Elections Office: Ballot Turn Out at 47% So Far

Vancouver, WA — The Clark County Elections Office reports today that voter turnout is at 47 percent, or 132,262 of the 281,554 eligible voters in the county. To put that in perspective, turnout at this point in the last mid-terms, in 2014, was at 28.3 percent.

Two years ago, Clark County turnout the day before the general election was 52.7 percent. Mid-term elections (between presidential elections) historically have lower turnout.

Political scientists across the country say this election cycle has been very hard to predict and that polling is more challenging than ever — given cell phone usage. The consensus, however, is that voter enthusiasm is way up across the political spectrum all over the United States.

The Clark County Elections office also announced they will do a manual random count as part of their scientific comparison against machine results.

The statement says:

“Beginning at 8:30 am Wednesday, Nov. 7, elections officials will perform a hand count of approximately 600 ballots randomly selected as part of a manual comparison against machine results.

“The selected ballots will be counted in the total returns on Election Day. But for this comparison, the United States Representative, 3rd Congressional District race on those ballots also will be counted by hand, to check the accuracy of the ballot tabulation equipment.

“If a voter has not received their ballot, they should contact the Elections Office at (564) 397-2345 or [email protected]. Ballots are not forwarded by the U.S. Postal Service. If a voter has recently moved, and the Elections Office did not receive a change of address, a ballot will be returned as undeliverable.

“A voter may download a replacement ballot at www.clarkvotes.org. The voter must print the ballot and return it following instructions included in the download. Click on “Need a Replacement Ballot?” to get started.”