If providing pre-paid postage on ballots for voters was supposed to increase turnout for the upcoming Primary Election it's not happening in Yakima County. Auditor Charles Ross says about 14 percent of the more than 115,000 ballots sent to voters have been returned to the auditors office. He says those numbers are similar to other elections in which people had to purchase their own stamps. "If anything we're seeing lower turnout numbers if you look at it on a percentile basis because there's more people in the database because people are being automatically registered now"
Ross says in his opinion pre-paid postage is not making an impact on turnout. Ross says his office is gathering evidence for a report on the free stamp idea. He'll pass on the report for the county to review after the November elections. State officials including the Governor plan to lobby the legislature this year to get the state to fund pre-paid ballots on a permanent basis.
Remember your ballot is due on election night next Tuesday, August 7.

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