COLUMBIA BASIN — The 2024 voter ballots are due a week from today.

“If you don’t vote, your voice absolutely will not be heard,” Grant County Republican Chairman Andrew Koeppen said to the Columbia Basin Herald in a previous interview. “If you vote, if we can get 100% of the people out to vote, then your voice will be heard, and that’s why I’m encouraging everybody to vote.”

As of Friday, there were 49,588 registered voters in Grant County with 5,542 of those voters having already turned in their ballot, according to the Secretary of State. This equates to around 11.18% of ballots returned. Of those 5,542 ballots, 10.94% have been accepted with 116 of them being challenged.

In Adams County, there are 8,231 registered voters with 1,300 returned ballots as of Friday, according to the Secretary of State. This equates to around 15.79% of ballots returned. Of those 1,300 ballots, 15.45% of them have been accepted with 28 of them being challenged.

In Grant County, most ballots have been turned in by mail at 66.76% and 33.24% by drop box. In Adams County, a majority were also mailed in at 56.69%, 42.92% by dropbox and 0.38% by other.

“We really should care as to who’s representing us,” Grant County Democrats Chairman Steve Starr said to the Columbia Basin Herald in a previous interview. “Who are in these elected offices, and are they competent? Or are they there on some kind of social agenda or something? It makes a big difference in our daily lives.”

These numbers are lower than the 2020 election for both Adams and Grant Counties. The ballot results have not been updated since Friday, so the numbers will be analyzed 11 days before the election.

In Grant County, there were fewer voters registered at 47,822 in 2020 versus 49,588 in 2024. However, by this time in 2020, there were 14,265 ballots returned, which is almost triple the amount in 2024.

In Adams County, there were also fewer registered voters at 7,721 in 2020 versus 8,231 in 2024. However, by this time in 2020, there were 2,837 ballots returned, which is almost double the amount so far in 2024.

Koeppen emphasized the importance of voters being mindful of timing to ensure their ballots are counted. If you’re mailing your ballot, it’s crucial to send it early. To be eligible, ballot envelopes must have a postmark of Nov. 5 or earlier. Since mail drop boxes are first collected locally and then sent to a regional USPS facility for postmarking, ballots dropped in these boxes on Election Day, or possibly a few days before, might not receive timely postmarks.

To guarantee your ballot is counted, consider taking it directly to the Post Office and requesting a local postmark. Alternatively, using an official ballot drop box is often a more reliable choice.