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Grays Harbor 1970s poll workers
How the 1970 election set Washington’s midterm turnout record

How the 1970 election set Washington’s midterm turnout record

The county-certified election returns for the 2018 General Election came very near setting a new state record for voter participation in a non-Presidential election cycle. Of the 4,362,454 people on Washington’s voter rolls, 71.83 percent cast ballots, which was just under the 71.85 percent turnout for the 1970 midterm General Election. Had just 1,101 more Washingtonians voted, that 48-year-old record would have been eclipsed. That the 1970 turnout stands as the state’s high-water mark is noteworthy in several regards. First, the record…

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Drawing of two winners
Washington’s top-two primary: What it is and how it works

Washington’s top-two primary: What it is and how it works

Voting has begun for Washington’s 2018 Primary Election, for which ballots can be submitted in county drop boxes or via postage-paid U.S. Mail until Election Day, August 7. This year, Primary’s ballots include groups of candidates vying to collect enough votes to make the General Election, for which ballots are due Nov. 6. Across America, states use a variety of systems to winnow down fields of candidates to finalists, as the National Conference of State Legislatures describes here. In 2004,…

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Georgetown Voters Unfair to Dr. Fehr

Georgetown Voters Unfair to Dr. Fehr

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Pennsylvania-born Dr. Albert Henry Fehr appears to have arrived in the then independent city of Georgetown, Washington around 1908, at age 36. He specialized in horses, and even had a patent in 1899 on a toe-weight for equines. In 1906 he was a one-day national news sensation when he blew the whistle on a horse he was ordered to drug in order to fix a…

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Comcast Newsmakers: Sam Reed

Comcast Newsmakers: Sam Reed

Comcast Newsmakers talks with Sam Reed about the various functions of his office. It’s a good summary of the (rather odd) variety of functions the Office of the Secretary of State performs: elections, corporations, charities, archives, legacy project, the state library. The Washington State Library gets excellent treatment, both time-wise and praise-wise. If you’re impatient, you can skip ahead – we’re covered from 1:01 – 2:16.