Last day to register online or by mail for Feb. 9 election

Published 12:40 pm Monday, January 11, 2016

Today is the last day to register online or by mail to vote in the Feb. 9 Special Election.

The Washington Office of Secretary of State is reminding residents that

Jan. 11 is the last day to register online or by mail, or to update your existing registration if you’ve changed your address or name.

To register online or to print out a voter registration form, visit http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/register.aspx. A Washington state driver’s license or identification is needed to register online.

Anyone in Kitsap County who is not a registered voter in Washington has until Monday, Feb. 1 to register in person at the county elections office in Port Orchard.

Bainbridge voters will cast ballots in February on a $81.2 million proposal to replace the Bainbridge High School 100 Building and also Captain Johnston Blakely Elementary.

The cost of replacing Blakely Elementary is estimated at $39 million; the cost for a new BHS 100 Building is $30 million. The bond measure, called Proposition 1, also includes $12.2 million for building repairs and renovations across the school district.

Prop. 1 needs a 60 percent “yes” vote to pass.

Bainbridge officials say the measure will increase property taxes by 36 cents per $1,000 of assessed value (an additional $175 a year for a median-priced home).

Roughly 23 percent of the state’s registered voters — about 917,000 people — will receive a ballot for the Feb. 9 Special Election, according to the Office of Secretary of State.

Ballots for military and overseas voters were scheduled to go out Jan. 10, with the remaining ballots being sent to voters by Jan. 22.

Of the 178 ballot measures throughout the state for the February election, 163 are for school levies. The others cover fire, park, hospital and port district measures.

In Kitsap County, five proposals from school districts will be on the Feb. 9 ballot, and approximately 80 percent of the county’s voters will receive ballots for the mail-in election.

“We hope many Washington voters will take part in the first election of 2016,” said Secretary of State Kim Wyman.

“As a former county elected official, I am quite aware of how important local government and school elections are, and we would love to see broad engagement by the voters,” she said.