Voters casting ballots in the state's primary election this year won't be getting a printed Voter's Guide from the Secretary of State's Office in the mail.

Instead, counties will publish election information and decide whether to include state and federal races in their voter pamphlets.

Printing a Voter's Guide would have cost about $1 million, said Brian Zylstra, spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, which saw a 10 percent cut in general-fund spending in the past year.

"With the state Legislature facing tough cutbacks, they can't afford to print one out," he said.

The state produced a print pamphlet for voters in the 2008 primary, but only after the Legislature voted to allocate funding for it. In 2004, there was no primary Voter's Guide from the state.

"In previous years, there weren't enough things going on to make it worthwhile to produce one," Zylstra said.

The state has full ballot information online already and will be distributing a Voter's Guide for the general election in November. King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties will all print pamphlets for the primaries, complete with listings for federal and state races.

In August, Washington voters have plenty of decisions to make in statewide primary races for a governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general, among other positions.

Janvier Panzar: 206-464-2253 or jnpanzar @seattletimes.com. On Twitter @jpanzar