Prepare yourself: This year's local ballot may look overwhelming

Election officials in King County will mail out ballots Wednesday, October 15. Voters better be prepared for a long ballot this year.

Seven Seattle City Council races are up for election, as are four King County Council races, a dozen advisory votes (on topics the legislature has already approved), a few local initiatives and more.

King County elections director Julie Wise said the ballots have extra colored ink this year to grab your attention while filling it out.

"This is a really busy ballot, so when voters get it it's hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed," she said. "The entire front page — all 18 inches — is covered in text, not until you turn your ballot over do you actually see any races.

"So voters will really, really, really need to cognizant of turning that ballot."

She also said voters need to report it if they don't get a ballot by next Tuesday or have another ballot issued, so the elections office can fix it.

Washington state transitioned to a new voter information database in August, which had a few hiccups during the August primary election.

Wise said not everything is resolved. She's asking voters to call if they have problems, such as "that they got the wrong ballot, it has the wrong issues on it, or that you got two ballots, or they received a ballot for someone that they shouldn't have."

Those issues happened in a handful of cases in the August primary election.

The new voter database is intended to boost security and make it possible for people to register on Election Day.

For those not registered, people can still sign up in person through the end of Election Day, when ballots are due.

King County has 1.3 million voters.