Reminder: Oct. 10 is WA voter-reg deadline
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A reminder that Monday, Oct. 10, is the deadline for online and mail-in voter registration ahead of the General Election.
Secretary Wyman and the state Elections Director Lori Augino said Tuesday that county election departments will also honor mail-in applications with an Oct. 11 postmark.
The Oct. 10 deadline could have been a problem for some who are registering by mail, since that is a federal holiday and the post office will not process or postmark on that day or on Sunday the 9th.
That means the functional deadline to mail the form would be Oct. 8. That would violate the National Voter Registration Act provision that says no state may have a mail-in voter registration deadline longer than 30 days. Oct. 8 would be 31 days before Election Day.
Wyman, herself a former county auditor, said it made no sense that a voter acting in good faith could mail on time, but not get a timely postmark. Wyman and the state Elections Division, in an email early last week, recommended that all counties honor an Oct. 11 postmark.
Oct. 10 at midnight remains the deadline for online registration. In-person registration at the county elections offices also remains an option through Oct. 31.
Wyman called on the 2017 Legislature to approve previous efforts by the auditors and her office to move the mail registration deadline to 28 days before the election, instead of 29 days. The bill, first introduced two years ago, would also move the online, motor-voter, and in-person deadline to 11 days before the election.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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