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A vote is a terrible thing to waste.
Yet way too many people in Yakima
County are on the verge of blowing off
today's primary election. As of Monday morning's mail, county election officials reported that only 26,466 of the 93,989 ballots sent out by the county auditor to registered voters had been returned. That's about 28 percent.
Or, put another way, on the eve of today's Primary Election, not even three out of 10 people who had their ballots mailed to them 20 days ago had bothered to mark and return them. C'mon, we can do better than that.
There's a nonpartisan Yakima County Superior Court race that will be decided in today's election. Yakima attorneys David Elofson and Rob Lawrence-Berrey are vying for the seat being vacated by Bob Hackett and state election law provides that whoever gets a majority (50 percent plus one) in today's final count wins the seat. There will be no General Election vote.
A state Supreme Court seat is also up for grabs today. Incumbent Mary Fairhurst is opposed by challenger Michael Bond, and if one gets a majority vote, he or she goes on to the General Election ballot alone, which is tantamount to election.
Today's primary is the first "Top Two" partisan election held in the state, which means the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the Nov. 4 General Election.
That has set the stage for two spirited races today in Yakima County.
A 14th Legislative District race will determine a successor for retiring Mary Skinner, Yakima Republican, and voters will pick from a field of five Republicans and one Democrat to select the two November finalists.
The Republican candidates are Scott Hess, Norm Johnson, Bob McLaughlin, Aubrey Reeves and Al Schweppe. The Democrat is Vickie Ybarra.
The race for the District 2 seat on the county commission is also crowded, with one Democrat and three Republicans vying for two spots on the fall ballot. Republicans are Kevin Bouchey, Ron Gamache and Dan Olson. The Democrat is Jesse Farias.
Granted, the legislative race is limited to the 14th District and the commissioner race to District 2 voters, but both are important first steps. The Superior Court race is countywide and the Supreme Court contest is a statewide vote.
Yakima County officials have predicted that 48 percent of eligible county voters will cast ballots. Secretary of State Sam Reed was even more optimistic and predicted a turnout of about 57 percent or 58 percent statewide.
If you got a ballot in the mail, you're eligible to vote it and have until midnight to get it postmarked -- or, drop it off today at the auditor's office in Yakima or at designated areas at Sunnyside Community Center and Toppenish High School before 8 p.m.
Obviously, we have a way to go in Yakima County to even reach those modest numbers. And there's not much time to get there.
A turnout of 50 percent or so is nothing to brag about. Anything less is embarrassing.
* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.
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