Ballots hit Benton and Franklin mailboxes this week. Postage is prepaid

Ballots for the Nov. 6 general election should begin hitting mailboxes in Benton and Franklin counties this weekend.

Ballots for the all-mail election were mailed on Wednesday and must be postmarked or returned by election day to be counted.

Postage is prepaid for ballots that make the deadline.

Voters who lose or damage ballots may request a replacement from their auditor’s office. The deadline to register online has passed, but voters may register in person until Oct. 29.

The Benton County auditor’s offices are at the Prosser courthouse, 620 Market St., the Kennewick annex, 5600 W. Canal Drive, and the Richland annex, 101 Wellsian Way. The Franklin auditor’s office is at the county courthouse, 1016 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco.

Voters have a long list of choices, including federal races for U.S. Senate and U.S. House, state-level races to represent the 8th, 9th and 16th Legislative districts in the state House and the 8th District in the state Senate, among others.

At the local level, voters in Benton and Franklin counties are weighing in on county commission races, assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, prosecutor, sheriff and treasurer races.

There are four statewide initiatives covering use of force, carbon taxes, taxes on groceries and firearms.

Franklin County has 34,911 registered voters and Benton County 109,808. Voter turnout in the 2014 midterm election was 50.73 percent in Franklin County and 55 percent in Benton.