THE BEST NEWS YET!

Ok, we admit it. Many of us LWV members are data nerds. We are excited by evidence, data, and science. So it gives us all kinds of goosebumps to report that our neighbors, friends, and family in Kittitas County are registering to vote AND voting in greater numbers – when it comes to voting during presidential election years, at least!

Even better, 1, 142 of you registered in the last three weeks of the election. The Auditor’s office sent out 29,249 ballots on October 13, but as you can see from the graphic below, a total of 30,391 ballots were issued prior to 8pm on November 3rd. This underscores the importance of making registering to vote (and voting) easy for citizens which in turn, strengthens our democracy.

Let’s look closer at these preliminary turnout numbers! (NOTE: ballots are continuing to be counted and final vote counts won’t be certified until November 24th, so the 2020 turnout data can only improve from here – and we still have our fingers crossed for a turnout in the 90% range.)

Presidential Election Year	2016	2020	Difference
Registered Voters	24,521	30,391	+5,870
Returned Ballots	19,934	26,086	+6,152
% Turnout	81.29	85.83	+4.54

So kudos to all of you who cared enough about our democracy to vote, and to those of you who worked to encourage friends, family, and neighbors to do likewise. And SPECIAL THANKS to the election officials who worked (and are working) so tirelessly to ensure the voters and the ballots were safe and secure and that the election is transparent.

THIS is how democracy is supposed to work!