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Dispatches from public radio's correspondent at the Washington Legislature. Austin Jenkins is the Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) weekly public affairs program "Inside Olympia."

Watch Your Mailbox For Ballots, Voters' Guides

Washington Secretary of State

Election 2014 is just over three weeks away.

Ballots will soon be arriving in mailboxes in Washington and Oregon where the election is all vote-by-mail. Idaho voters still go to the polls, but about a quarter of Gem State ballots are cast absentee.

Washington state elections director Lori Augino said her office predicts 62 percent turnout for the November election.

Lori Augino: “I’m optimistic that we will hit that 62-percent mark and I think that because voters in this state get a ballot every election and they get a voter’s pamphlet every election, so that’s two reminders that an election is coming up with all the information they need to cast that vote.”

Turnout in a presidential year is typically over 80 percent.

Washington, Oregon and Idaho still mail out statewide voters’ guides. But Augino said many states don’t.

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy, as well as the Washington State Legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia."