More women than men casting ballots in Kitsap County

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, November 8, 2016

More women than men are casting ballots in Kitsap County for the 2016 General Election, according to a Review analysis of ballot returns through 9:30 a.m. on Election Day.

The Kitsap County Election Division has received 98,796 ballots from county residents through Tuesday morning.

Turnout in Kitsap County stood at 59.3 percent of eligible registered voters Tuesday morning, up from 56.7 percent Monday. A total of 166,501 Kitsap voters are eligible to cast ballots in this year’s General Election.

Ballots already submitted for tallying on Tuesday night show that 52.5 percent of the voters so far are women, with men making up 47.4 percent of the vote so far.

On Bainbridge Island, the gender split is even more pronounced, according to the Review’s analysis.

A total of 13,599 ballots from Bainbridge have been received by the Kitsap County Election Division through Tuesday morning.

Most of those ballots — 53.7 percent — are from women voters. Men on Bainbridge constitute 46.2 percent of the vote so far.

In actual numbers of ballots, Bainbridge women have cast 7,314 through Tuesday morning; men, 6,285.

County wide, a total of 46,877 men have cast ballots through Tuesday; women voters have returned 51,919 ballots.

Kitsap election officials have predicted turnout in this year’s presidential election will hover near 80 percent by the time the boxes close, at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

In the 2012 presidential election, turnout in Kitsap County hit 82 percent. (It was 87 percent in 2008).

The number of registered voters in Kitsap County has increased since the August Primary Election. A total of 7,265 new voters have been added to the voter roll since then.

Statewide, election officials have forecast turnout at 84 percent. Washington has 4.2 million registered voters.