The ballots are in the mail

"Sharpen those number two pencils, Silverdalians, it’s election time again.Ballots for the second Silverdale incorporation vote are available for pick-up at the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office today and will be mailed out tomorrow and Friday.This is the do-over election for the Nov. 2 general election on the issue. Though incorporation lost by five votes then, 35 ballot discrepancies were discovered after the election. Some people who should have been allowed to vote on incorporation weren’t, while some who shouldn’t have been allowed to vote were.This second run, an election by mail only, should settle the issue.Voters have until Feb. 1 to mail in their ballots, and Auditor Karen Flynn asked voters to keep in mind that the ballot must bear a Feb. 1 or earlier postmark in order to be counted. Ballots cast on the evening of Feb. 1, after the chance for a postmark has passed, will not count.Flynn expects a 65 percent return on the incorporation vote, though fewer voters are registered in Silverdale now than were Nov. 2. Right now, Silverdale has 7,062 registered voters compared with November’s 7,096.Flynn said voter registration after the general election explains the incongruity.However, Silverdale residents can still register to vote at the auditor’s office in Port Orchard. It’s too late for mail-in registration, but Flynn will accept in-person registration through the end of work Friday. The only stipulation is you have to have lived in Silverdale for the 30 days prior to the vote – since Jan. 1 – in order to have a valid registration for the election.The problem ballots in the first election were scattered throughout the Morken, Anderson Creek and Bangor 100 precincts."

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