August primary election deadline looms

The mailing of Whatcom County primary ballots has started the countdown to the August primary on Tuesday, August 1.

The race for Whatcom County Executive is the most contested with five people challenging Satpal Sidhu to lead the county. The top two finishers in each race will move onto the November 7 general election. Races that have two candidates or are uncontested will not be in the primary, such as several Blaine school district board positions and all Point Roberts positions.

Below are the positions up that will most impact Point Roberts residents:

• Whatcom County Executive – Misty Flowers, Alicia Rule, Satpal Sidhu, Dan Purdy, Barry Buchanan and Sukhwant Gill.

• Whatcom County Council District 4 – Mark Stremler, Kathy Kershner and Katherine Orlowski.

• Whatcom County Council At Large Position B – Atul Deshmane, Jon Scanlon, Hannah Ordos and Jerry Burns.

• Blaine school board – Tana Perkins Reneau, Ben Lazarus and Dean Berkeley.

The Whatcom County Auditor’s Office mailed primary ballots to registered Whatcom County voters on July 12. Registered voters were able to start voting immediately by mail, drop box returns or in-person at the auditor’s office after receiving their ballots.

Ballots must either be returned in a drop box by 8 p.m. August 1 or postmarked by August 1 if mailed. The auditor’s office did not recommend mailing ballots after Tuesday, July 25, according to its website.

There are 21 drop boxes in Whatcom County for the election, including at the International Marketplace in Point Roberts, and the Blaine Public Library.

The auditor’s office hosted public election center tours on security measures and ballot processing from July 25 through Friday, July 28.

Whatcom County has 158,677 registered voters, according to the latest data from the auditor’s office.

The auditor’s office is located in suite 103 of the Whatcom County Courthouse, 311 Grand Avenue in Bellingham. It will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays through July 31. The office is open evening hours on Election Day, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. August 1.

For more information on voting in the August primary or other election information, visit the auditor’s office at whatcomcounty.us/1574/elections.