Voter turnout high, expected to rise as last-minute voters in Seattle run to ballot box

As social distancing was the norm across Seattle due to the state's novel coronavirus outbreak, election night festivities were few and far between -- if they existed at all.

The Washington State Democrats had no organized presence in the area, and not a peep could be heard from Seattle's Drinking Liberally chapter which usually congregates, analyzes and of course drinks at the Roanoke Inn on Capitol Hill. A small group of Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign staffers and volunteers announced they'd be at a bar on Capitol Hill.

Still, Washington had a high turnout for the election thanks to its mail ballot system. Over 1.8 million ballots had been counted statewide. And in King County, the number of ballots reached 467,989.

But the fanfare of the election had somewhat been extinguished in the city -- unless someone was a last-minute voter, like Ranko Asari, wife of the last person to vote in South Lake Union.

"Five minutes to vote," yelled two women helping voters stuff their ballots into the box at 310 Terry Ave. N.

An influx of dog-walkers and people running down street with red faces filled the gap until the two women yelled, "four minutes to vote!"

Drivers skidded into makeshift parking spots, threw on their hazards and ran up to the ballot box.

"Three minutes to vote!"

Asari came running down the hill, as the minutes ticked away to two, then one. After she successfully voted for the first time in America, her wife Vanessa rolled up into the parking spot used by every other last-minute voter and cast her vote for Sanders -- after she fumbled with the envelope for the last few seconds until 8 p.m.

Both voted for Sanders, although the last-minute effort was a bit of a result of their affinity for Sen. Elizabeth Warren who dropped out after Super Tuesday last week.

"We were going to go out to dinner, then vote," Vanessa Asari said.

"But then dinner went a little long, and we left Pie Bar on Capitol Hill at like 7:53 p.m.," Ranko Asari said.

Ranko Asari said she couldn't miss her first time voting in America, as it took 14 months to become a naturalized citizen after emigrating from Japan.

Tanya Parker was another last-minute voter who pledged her support for Sanders. Her reason for waiting until the last few minutes?

"I wanted to see who dropped out before I voted," Parker said. "I could have voted this weekend, but I was on the fence." She then paused to answer the phone and give directions to a friend, who was also voting at the last minute.

"But I ended up voting for the chance for getting actual change done," Parker said. "I don't buy into the electability argument."

Brian Curtis voted just within 15 minutes of the ballot box closing, but pinned his reason on procrastination.

"I was just busy, working and everything," Curtis said. "But the way Washington does it just makes it so easy, I love it this way."

Curtis also wasn't on the fence after multiple candidates dropped out. "That part made it easy. For me, it was Biden. All my preferred candidates dropped out, so it was really about picking the best candidate, the one who we pick to go against Trump."

After the first ballot dump on Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sanders were close at at respective 331,556 and 333,143 vote counts. Though everyone else had dropped out, the next two closest were Warren and Michael Bloomberg.

However, as Washington allows ballots to be returned by 8 p.m. on election day, results won't be official by each county until March 20, and won't be statewide until March 27.

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