Steve Klein addresses current issues impacting Yelm and vicinity and provides a meeting place for anyone with an interest in this area to provide their ideas and opinions
With only [3] markets left of the season, we hope everyone is planning on coming out [Saturday] and supporting your local farmers market! [10am to 3pm , McKenzie Avenue in front of the Yelm police station.]
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs speaks about the importance of returning ballots early alongside U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, right, and leaders from the Seattle King County NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Snohomish County in Seattle on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Washington State Standard.
+ Editor’s note: The office of the Thurston County Auditor recommends using Voter Drop Boxes to cast your ballot instead of the U. S. Postal Service.
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Uncounted late ballots jump in Washington as fears of Postal Servicedelays intensify
Over 20,000 ballots in Washington’s primary election last month were rejected because they came in too late, thousands more than in 2024.
This comes as election officials have raised the alarm over the U.S. Postal Service not postmarking mail-in ballots on the day they’re received due to reduced service and faraway processing centers. Officials here have encouraged Washingtonians to use ballot drop boxes or mail their ballots at least a week before election day to ensure they’ll be counted.
Late last year, the Postal Service finalized a rule saying that a piece of mail’s “postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of the mailpiece.”
Statewide, the number of ballots not counted because of late postmarks increased 32 percent.
In the 2024 primary, 16,131 votes were uncounted because of this. This year, it was 20,267, despite lower turnout overall at about 37 percent. Over two-thirds of ballots were returned via drop box this year, up a tick from 2024.
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Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell presented the data on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in Seattle.
Cantwell, a Democrat, said President Donald Trump and the Postal Service are “disenfranchising voters across the United States with policies that are leaving them with a ballot that was cast but never counted.” She called on her Republican colleagues in the Senate to hold hearings on the issue.
“This is what makes our country great: the fact that we have free and fair elections,” Cantwell said. “But right now, the U.S. Postal Service is not making it too fair.”
They attributed the rural-urban divide to less access to drop boxes, forcing voters to rely on the unreliable mail system to return their ballots.
President Donald Trump led an insurgent takeover of the Republican Party. Now one prominent MAGA dissident believes conservative critics of the Iran war could use the same playbook.
After resigning from the Trump administration over his opposition to the conflict, Joe Kent has been exploring how to channel anti-war sentiment into political action. Trump led the MAGA movement astray with the war, he said. War critics could take a lesson from the president and “hijack” the GOP, he told USA TODAY in an interview.
“We know that we have something here in terms of political energy,” Kent said. “We know that people are frustrated.”
Kent is at the center of growing MAGA backlash to the war, which has sparked outrage among some on the right who believe the conflict clashes with Trump’s campaign pledges to avoid foreign military entanglements. He met with other prominent MAGA war dissenters last month [in July] to plot their next steps.
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‘No military solution’
Kent joined the Trump administration last year as the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.
An Army veteran and close ally of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, another military veteran who has embraced MAGA non-interventionism, Kent said he was drawn to the president by his foreign policy platform. He resigned from the administration on March 17, less than three weeks into the Iran war.
In his resignation letter, Kent wrote about his 11 combat deployments and losing his wife, who was killed by a suicide bomber while serving with the Navy in Syria. He told Trump he opposed sending “the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.” There have been 18 U.S. service members killed in the war, and concerns about troop morale amid complaints about living conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Five months after resigning, Kent is continuing to press his case publicly while taking tentative steps to organize politically. He told USA TODAY that the president is too focused on a formal peace deal and should simply walk away.
“There’s no military solution,” Kent said. “If there was one, then he just would simply execute it.”
The White House responded by calling Kent a “quitter.”
The Yelm FFA Alumni is hosting our annual car show at Yelm High School on September 12th, 2026. We use the proceeds from this event to provide funding for our local FFA members to participate in contests and to provide scholarships. We would love to welcome you to our event. Registration is in person only the day of the event. We have food, a huge silent auction, door prizes, a 50/50 raffle, kids games, and trophies and dash plaques.
In recent years, the City of Yelm has intentionally increased its efforts to host fun, cost-friendly events for the community — and despite the summer season winding to an end, the city has no plans to decrease the amount of events it hosts as the fall season approaches.
Line Roy, the City of Yelm’s communications and recreation coordinator, told the Nisqually Valley News on Monday, Aug. 31, that residents should be on the lookout for several family-oriented events set to take place in Yelm throughout the fall season.
“We have a ton of events coming up. We are not winding down anytime soon,” Roy said. “We are going to take advantage of every last sunny day we have. We have a ton of events set for September.”
Roy first noted that the Yelm Farmers Market will continue to take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday in September. The last market of the year is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26.
She also highlighted that Get Fit Yelm will continue to host free FitCity Saturday courses for the community at Yelm City Park. Classes begin at 9:30 a.m. and the next event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 5.
Then, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and Monday, Sept. 14, the City of Yelm will host two events to continue the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
“The Stars and Stripes Revolutionary Road will be telling the story, on Sept. 9, of the American Flag from the first Fourth of July to today,” Roy said. “Then, The World’s Greatest Breakup Letter will be a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the 14th. Those are two really historically significant moments in our country’s history and I think it’s neat that we’re going to get a deep dive into both of them, especially with this being our 250th year.”
Brunch with the Beatles is also set to take place at 10:30 a.m. at Yelm City Park [Saturday, Sept. 26]. Roy said attendees will have the opportunity to listen to a free, live concert by Good Day Sunshine, a Beatles tribute band.
Additionally, while the Breakfast with the Beatles concert takes place, the final Yelm Farmers Market of the season will be coinciding near Yelm City Park.
Stars and Stripes Revolutionary Road Celebrate the 249th Anniversary the American Flag!
Wednesday, Sept. 9, Yelm Community Center lawn
Come listen to the fascinating story of the “Stars and Stripes Revolutionary Road” culminating in the Betsy Ross flag.
Renew your belief in the United States’ strongest international symbol by rediscovering the flag’s roots. Flowing through this journey of 20 flags you will experience the many faces of Old Glory.
The Sons of the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark Chapter, Olympia, is responsible for the accuracy of this program presented by Arthur Dolan.
Join us September 10th for our next monthly Community Conversation.
We invite all residents and citizens to these open forums to engage directly with city leadership. This month, we will be joining the Rotary Club of Yelm during their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. This is a great opportunity to learn more about their organization as well.
Mayor Joe, City of Yelm Police Chief Carlson, Public Works Director Cody Colt, and Recreation Aide Chloe will be on hand to share project updates, upcoming events, and community information.
THIS ENTRY HAS BEEN PUBLISHED HERE ANNUALLY SINCE SEPTEMBER 3, 2007.
– “Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the ‘working man’. It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a national holiday by Act of Congress in 1894,” quoting Wikipedia.
– “Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country, said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man’s prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day…is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation,” quoting the U. S. Dept. of Labor website.
– The History of Labor Day
From the U. S. Dept. of Labor website. Read more
– “The Fourth of July commemorates our political freedom, a freedom which without economic freedom is meaningless indeed. Labor Day symbolizes our determination to achieve an economic freedom for the average man which will give his political freedom reality.” Click here for the address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 6, 1936.
– “WHAT COLOR AM I – ‘The People’s Anthem’ – Charles J. Jones”
Click hereand expect to be moved! Special message AFTER song!
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The Yelm Community Blog pauses to acknowledge all laborers worldwide this day, for through all of our toils, the world is a better place!
Iranians walking near an anti-America propaganda billboard in Tehran on Aug. 19, 2026. Credit: EHPA/Shutterstock. “Beware Iran’s most devious weapon — another ‘October surprise’” by The New York Post.
“Beware Iran’s most devious weapon — another ‘October surprise’”
+ Reuters: Global Bond Sell-Off Puts Investors on Edge – Government borrowing costs are hitting multi-decade highs around the world, reflecting anxiety about debt levels, deficits and inflation.
+ MS.Now: Georgia just audited its voter rolls — and debunked Trump’s election lies – The list of states undermining Trump’s claims of widespread noncitizen voter fraud grew Tuesday, when a Georgia audit found the state’s voter rolls were 99.9% accurate and had no evidence of malicious manipulation.
+ The Daily Beast: Embattled Republican Senator Blasted Over ‘Epstein Donors’ – Federal filings show that Susan Collins and her political committees have spent years taking money from former associates of the notorious child sex trafficker.
+ PBS News: WATCH: Massie names 14 Epstein associates to ‘shame’ DOJ – On the first night back from August recess, Rep. Thomas Massie named more than a dozen associates he said aided convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in his crimes.
+ The Daily Beast via MSN: Trump’s big moment hit by embarrassing Google results – a look-alike website to Trump’s GOP midterm convention that had been surfacing prominently in Google searches began sending visitors straight to the Justice Department’s Epstein files.
