The voting period for this fall’s highly anticipated statewide General Election is about to begin, with Washington’s military and overseas voters being the first ones to receive and fill out ballots.

Counties will send out roughly 50,000 General Election ballots to military and overseas voters by the Sept. 22 deadline. Many of these voters are expected to use the option of e-mailing or faxing back their completed ballot to their home county elections office.

For the 2012 Primary Election, 50,456 ballots were issued to the state’s military and overseas voters.

The eight counties that had the highest number of ballots sent to military and overseas voters for the primary were King (12,574), Pierce (10,405), Kitsap (5,972), Thurston (4,362), Spokane (3,722), Snohomish (3,535), Island (2,112) and Clark (1,737).

Ballots for other Washington voters will be sent out by Oct. 19. The statewide Voters’ Pamphlet will be mailed to all Washington voters by then. Your Whidbey Island community newspapers will include the Island County Voter Guide the week that ballots go out.

Oct. 6 is the postmark deadline for voter registration applications and updates submitted by mail. Oct. 8 is the last day to register or update information online. Oct. 29 is the last day to register in person at your county elections office if you are not registered to vote in Washington.

Washington voter turnout in the 2008 General Election was a state-record 85 percent. For more information about military and overseas voters, contact state Elections Division Co-Director Katie Blinn at 360-902-4168 (office) or 253-906-9916 (cell) or katie.blinn@sos.wa.gov.