Washington will elect its first new governor in 12 years after Democrat Jay Inslee said he will retire after three terms.

On Election Day, Washingtonians will not only vote for a new president but they will also decide several key state races.

Washington Post readers will notice a new feature as part of our coverage on election night — and beyond, as long as races are still being contested. It’s called Post Pulse, and it is designed to forecast how the votes counted so far in the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will likely affect the final outcome.

Media tycoon Barry Diller, a friend to The Washington Post’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, called the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate a poorly timed “mistake.” “They made a blunder — it should’ve happened months before, and it didn’t, and that’s the issue with it,” Diller told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday.

Washington D.C. locals, businesses, and officials are taking nearly every step to reduce the potential of violence from frustrated followers of either party.

WASHINGTON STATE — Despite being behind in the polls, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert told KOMO News he's confident and predicts he will win the race. If that happens, a Republican will be in the Washington governor's mansion for the first time since the 1980s.

Washington state conducts elections entirely by mail, although voters can cast ballots in person as well. Ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. PT. The winner of the presidential race in Washington will take the state’s 12 electoral votes.

The Post’s election results data largely come from the Associated Press, which uses a team of more than 5,000 people to track and report results in more than 6,000 contests across the country.

On the eve of an election marked by increasingly heated rhetoric, the Washington State Republican Party sent text messages to Spanish-speaking voters on Friday alleging that Democratic candidates want to “eliminate the Spanish language” and “support the chemical castration of your children in school without your knowledge or consent.”

Thousands of women rallied in the capital and across the country for a Kamala Harris presidency — and to proclaim their resistance to Republican aims to restrict women’s reproductive rights.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) activated the National Guard to be on stand-by in the event it is asked to support local law enforcement and the Washington State Patrol during election week, a press release issued Friday said.