Our primary election day is coming up on August 17, and ballots are going out in the mail this week.

Ballots can be mailed in anytime between the time they’re received and August 17, as long as they’re postmarked by August 17. There will also be a ballot drop box at the end of the driveway at the Orcas Senior Center.

Since the state did not send out printed Voter Guides for this primary election, I wanted to let people know that there is a Voters’ Guide online on the Washington Secretary of State’s website.

Just go to: www.sos.wa.gov.

On the left side of the page, click on “Elections and Voting” and then click on “2010 Online Voters’ Guide.”

Then there are four choices: Federal, Congressional, Legislative, and Judicial.

“Federal” contains the candidates for U.S. Senate in our district, Congressional District 2.

“Congressional” contains all 9 congressional districts in the state. Click on “Congressional District 2” to see the candidates for U.S. House of Representatives in our district.

Then you can click on any candidate’s name and a page about that candidate will come up.

I encourage people to share this link with others and to print out copies for people who don’t use the internet.

The candidates are not listed in any particular order or by any particular party preference – the listing of candidates is done at random. And the way they are listed in the online Voters’ Guide is the way they will be listed on the ballot.

The phone number for the Secretary of State’s office is (360) 902-4151.

Happy voting!

Sharon Abreu

Eastsound