Register To Vote! Deadline To Sign Up Is Monday

OLYMPIA, WA - After such a politically tumultuous weekend, you might be a little more inclined to vote in the mid-term election. If that's the case, be aware that Monday is the deadline for registering to vote online or through the mail for the November election.

You can still register in-person at your local county office up to eight days before the Nov. 6 election. Other key dates and deadlines coming up:

• Oct. 6: The state will start sending out voters' pamphlets
• Oct. 19: Voting starts, ballots start arriving in the mail round this time and last no later than Oct. 25
• Oct. 29: Deadline for in-person voter registration
• Nov. 6: Election Day! Polls close at 8 p.m., and that includes drop boxes and in-person voting

What's on the ballot for this election? There are heated races in the 8th Congressional District (Kim Schrier vs. Dino Rossi), and in the 3rd (Jaime Herrera Beutler vs. Carolyn Long) and the 5th (Cathy McMorris Rodgers vs. Lisa Brown) districts.

Statewide ballot initiatives include: a tax on carbon; preventing local governments from implementing soda taxes; gun safety; and police training. You can read about each measure here.

In local races, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist is facing a strong challenge from Mary Robnett, an assistant Pierce County prosecutor working in the sex crimes division. And Renton businesswoman Mona Das is challenging Joe Fain in the 47th Legislative District race. In late September, a woman came forward claiming that Fain raped her in a Washington, D.C., hotel room in 2007.

File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch