More than 15 percent of Kitsap County voters have already cast ballots in the 2020 Presidential Primary.
Washington state will hold its presidential primary on Tuesday, March 10.
According to the Kitsap County Elections Division, ballots were mailed out by Feb. 21 and the county currently has 177,018 eligible registered voters. (The number of voters will change up until Election Day as residents can sign up to vote through March 10.)
Through Feb. 28 — the day before the presidential primary in South Carolina — a total of 27,444 eligible voters (15.5 percent) have returned ballots for counting.
The biggest daily batch of votes accepted by the county for processing — 7,866 ballots — occurred on Feb. 25, before the broadcast of the 10th Democratic Party Presidential Debate (held in advance of Saturday’s South Carolina Primary).
The purpose of the 2020 Presidential Primary is to determine how many delegates for each candidate attend the Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer.
Voters are required to choose a political party for their vote to count, and the ballot contains the names of some who have already abandoned their bids for the White House.
Democratic party officials submitted 13 candidates to be included on the ballot: Michael Bennet, Joseph R. Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang.
There is also be a 14th option for voters to indicate a preference that delegates to the Democratic party’s national convention remain uncommitted.
Donald Trump is the only Republican candidate included on the ballot, and an “uncommitted” option is not available for Republican voters.
Booker and Delaney both ended their campaigns in January, while Bennet, Patrick and Yang dropped out after the New Hampshire primary in February.
Steyer suspended his campaign Feb. 29 after the South Carolina primary on Saturday, as did Buttigieg.
Media reports Monday also indicated that Klobuchar would suspend her campaign before the Super Tuesday primary March 3, which includes 14 state primaries and the American Samoa caucuses.
