It's the dog days of summer, but ballots are already arriving in mailboxes in Washington. That's because the September primary has been moved to August. It's the earliest primary in state history. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.
August in the Northwest is about going to the mountains or the beach. It's certainly not the month for elections and voting - except now it is. Washington's primary is now August 21st.
The change is designed to give counties more time between the primary and general election. Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed says he doesn't expect a major drop-off in turnout.
Sam Reed: "I was concerned about having an August primary in the State of Washington, but now that most people are voting by mail it's over a period of 20 days they have to vote and so we really don't anticipate being a problem here."
In fact all but three of Washington's 39 counties have gone to all vote by mail. In the other three counties, the majority of voters will also mail it in. Reed predicts about 30-percent of voters will turnout - that's typical for off-year primaries with few hot races.
