South County Politics: February school election voter registration deadlines coming up

Voter registration deadline is Friday or Monday or Tuesday

The deadline for voters to register online or by mail for the Feb. 13 Edmonds School District special election, or for previously registered Washington voters to file a change of address, is Friday or Monday or Tuesday depending on how you register — in person, on line or by mail.

Monday, Jan. 15, is the official deadline — 29 days before election day — but that’s the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday; so both the county elections office and the U.S. Postal Service are closed.

That makes Friday, Jan. 12, the effective deadline to register in person at the Snohomish County auditor’s office in Everett, and it allows voters to send mail registration with a Tuesday, Jan. 16, postmark.

Voters who register online still have a Monday, Jan. 15, deadline.

In person registration closes at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the County Elections division of the County Auditor’s office, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett, First Floor, Administration Building West.

Voters can register on line or update existing registrations through midnight Monday, Jan. 15, at www.sos.wa.gov/elections/myvote.

Mail registration forms are available at the auditor’s office, at local libraries or at some other government offices. Forms also are available on line at www.sos.wa.gov/elections/Print-Voter-Registration-Forms.aspx.

Voters who register by mail need to send their forms in time to get Jan. 16, postmarks. That means being aware of pick-up times at local post offices.

New Washington voters can register through Feb. 5, but after a Tuesday, Jan. 16, they must register in person at the Snohomish County auditor’s office in Everett.

Change address to avoid mix-up

Voters who don’t file a change of address will have ballots sent to the old address and forwarded to the new address.

For voters who move within the Edmonds School District, that simply means a delay of a day or two, but for voters who move from one district to another, it could mean getting the wrong ballot.

For example, a voter who moved from Everett to Lynnwood would have his ballot forwarded to the new address, but that ballot would have the two Everett School District measures but not the Edmonds School District measure.

The Edmonds School District includes Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway, most of Brier, and unincorporated areas near those municipalities.

Drop boxes open Friday

Ballot drop boxes at the Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace libraries, near the Lynnwood City Hall and at 13 other sites around Snohomish County will open Friday, Jan. 12, for the Feb. 13 Edmonds School District special election even though ballots don’t get sent to most voters until Jan. 25.

Drop boxes open early because the county sends ballots to military and overseas voters Jan. 25 and some of those military voters live in Snohomish County.

The drop boxes close at 8 p.m. election day, Feb. 13.

–By Evan Smith

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.

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