Election Day in Pierce County: Ballots Are Due by 8 P.M. Tuesday — the Drop Box Is the Sure Thing

Tacoma does not do Election Day the polling-place way. Washington mails every registered voter a ballot, and the whole election comes down to one deadline: 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Your ballot must be inside an official Pierce County ballot drop box by then — or in the mail with a Nov. 3 postmark. The boxes lock at 8. There is no grace period and no line to stand in.

This year the instruction from state and county officials is unusually blunt: use a drop box, not a mailbox. Changes in postal processing mean a ballot mailed on Election Day itself may not be postmarked that day, and a late postmark voids the ballot no matter when you mailed it. Pierce County's drop boxes — including the boxes at the Pierce County Elections center in Tacoma and locations across the county's cities and libraries — are open 24 hours until the deadline, free, and emptied directly by election staff. Find yours at piercecountywa.gov/elections or VoteWA.gov.

The details that save ballots: sign the return envelope, because the county verifies that signature and will contact you to cure it if it doesn't match; seal the ballot in its secrecy sleeve; and if your ballot never arrived or is ruined, the Elections center can print a replacement — and can register you in person right up to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Washington's same-day registration deadline.

On Tacoma ballots: the city's U.S. House races (the 6th and 10th districts both touch Tacoma), state legislative seats, Pierce County offices, Tacoma city races and measures, port and school contests — plus judges. First results publish shortly after 8 p.m.; ballots postmarked on time will keep arriving and being counted for days, on the county's posted schedule.

One in three Washington ballots had been returned by the state's Friday tally, which means tonight the election is mostly sitting in Pierce County kitchens. Sign it, seal it, box it — by 8 p.m. Tuesday.