Browsed by
Category: Top 2 Primary

WA voters pick their Primary favorites

WA voters pick their Primary favorites

Washington voters have narrowed the field for the General Election, including the hotly contested race for Seattle Mayor, three special state Senate races and literally hundreds of important local offices. By Wednesday midday, counties had tallied over 660,000 ballots after carefully verifying the voter signatures. That amounted to 20.5 percent of those who received ballots, a number sure to increase as Tuesday evening’s drop-box ballots and those still in the mail are added in. Washington’s election law allows any ballot…

Read More Read More

SecWyman promotes county election drop boxes for 11th-hour voters

SecWyman promotes county election drop boxes for 11th-hour voters

(Photo courtesy of Stephanie Horn) With just hours to go until Washington’s 2013 Primary wraps up, Secretary of State Kim Wyman hit the airwaves doing TV and radio interviews to talk up the election and remind voters to return their ballots before the deadline ends at 8 p.m. Here she is shown being interviewed by KOMO Radio’s Jane Shannon and Tom Hutyler.  Wyman’s best tip: The safest bet is to use a ballot drop box provided by your county elections…

Read More Read More

Primary ends Tuesday; have you voted?

Primary ends Tuesday; have you voted?

Washington’s 2013 Primary ends Tuesday at 8 p.m., so do it before it’s too late. If you’re waiting until the last minute to return your ballot, Secretary of State Kim Wyman recommends that you NOT put your ballot in the mail. Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day (Aug. 6) in order to be counted, but there is no guarantee that the post office will postmark it in time to count. Wyman, the state’s chief elections officer, says it’s better…

Read More Read More

2013 Primary underway

2013 Primary underway

If you’re a registered voter, make sure to check your mail over the next few days. Washington’s 2013 Primary is underway and county elections officials are mailing ballots this week to most of the state’s registered voters. Military and overseas ballots already have gone out. Because this is an odd-numbered year, the Primary, which ends Aug. 6, will be dominated by local races, mostly nonpartisan. The Primary includes three special state Senate races in the 7th (Northeast Washington), 8th (part…

Read More Read More

Long battle for Top 2 Primary officially over

Long battle for Top 2 Primary officially over

(Photo courtesy of Legislative Support Services, Photo Department) It was a quiet, noncontroversial ending to a 12-year legal, legislative and ballot-box battle to preserve a wide-open primary system for Washington voters. The fight had involved the political parties, the highest court in the land, and even a detour through California. Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5518 to clear the state law books of all references to the much-maligned Pick-a-Party system that voters were required to use in 2004 through…

Read More Read More

House advances new deadlines for voter registration

House advances new deadlines for voter registration

Washington’s voter registration deadlines might be changed under a bill passed by the House, one of several elections-related measures  approved by the chamber. Engrossed House Bill 1267 extends the time period for voter registration closer to Election Day. Under current law, the online and mail-in registration deadlines are 29 days before an election and the in-person deadline is eight days prior. The original bill sought to allow people to register even on Election Day, but county auditors voiced strong opposition,…

Read More Read More

After 45 years in public life, Sam Reed bids farewell

After 45 years in public life, Sam Reed bids farewell

(Photo courtesy of  Legislative Support Services Photography) Secretary of State Sam Reed bade a fond farewell to the people of Washington Tuesday after 45 years in public life, including 35 years as a state and county elected official. Addressing a joint session of the Legislature, Reed brought along a special reminder of his family’s long connection to Washington politics and government — his grandfather Sam Sumner’s battered leather briefcase.  Exactly 100 years earlier, Sumner, a state GOP chairman and longtime…

Read More Read More

Top 2 upheld in court: voters win

Top 2 upheld in court: voters win

Washington’s popular Top 2 Primary system has cleared its final legal hurdle. The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear the challenge by Washington Democrats and Libertarians on the Top 2. This apparently is the final word on litigation that has been under way since voters overwhelmingly approved the primary through an initiative in 2004. Go here to view the cases that the Supreme Court is refusing to hear. (The Top 2 appeal case is found on…

Read More Read More

Reed certifies Primary Election

Reed certifies Primary Election

This month’s Primary Election has been certified, with Secretary of State Sam Reed doing the honors late Friday afternoon. More than 1.4 million ballots were tallied in the Primary, with voter participation a lighter-than-forecast 38.5 percent. The county-by-county numbers are here, along with the breakout for various races. The turnout was the weakest for a presidential-gubernatorial election-year Primary in recent years.  The average has run about 43 percent, and Secretary Reed had forecast 46 percent this year, based on what…

Read More Read More

Romney-Ryan ticket cleared for WA ballot

Romney-Ryan ticket cleared for WA ballot

The Romney-Ryan ticket has been given a green light to appear on the Washington state ballot in the fall. Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee, in a ruling handed down from the bench after brief oral arguments Thursday, rejected a challenge brought by the Libertarian Party of Washington. The Libertarians had argued that the Republicans of Washington lapsed into minority status by not getting 5 percent of the 2010 statewide vote with a “nominated” candidate for U.S. Senate. The…

Read More Read More