WA voter reg sets a one-day record; total now tops 4.2m

Voter registrations in Washington hit a new one-day record on Monday, the deadline for online and mail-in registration. In that single day, 27,601 signed up online via the Secretary of State’s MyVote.wa.gov. That broke the previous record set just a day earlier, 23,167. Before that, the all-time one-day record was set last spring, 13,109, with help from Facebook prompts. The number of registered voters now stands at 4,207,379. It’s the first time we’ve exceeded 4.2 million. We celebrated our four millionth voter just seven months ago. The number is expected to climb as online and mail applications are processed by the counties. Also, in-person new registrations are welcome throughout Oct. 31. Secretary of State Kim Wyman, the state's chief elections officer and an election administrator for the past 23 years, said she's never seen a surge like this:

“We are ecstatic to see more than 50,000 new registrations in the past 48 hours. These are great days for citizen engagement and we welcome every single new voter.”

The rush in new registrations was prompted by the Monday deadline for online and mail-in applications and by heavy interest in the presidential race, the St. Louis debate and 24-7 news coverage, Wyman said. She noted that there are plenty of other draws for voting this year, too – all nine statewide offices, a Senate seat and all 10 U.S. House seats, judicial races, control of the Legislature, and a raft of state and local races and propositions. She added:

"It’s a feast for voters.”

Voters are getting their Voters’ Pamphlet in the mail this week and ballots will be mailed by the counties beginning next Wednesday. Military and overseas voters are already voting.