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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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Candidate filing week
Time to sign up to run on the 2018 ballot

Time to sign up to run on the 2018 ballot

Although fervent politicking began weeks ago in races across the state, the official start of election season arrives Monday, with the beginning of Candidate Filing Week 2018. From May 14-18, candidates for federal, state, and local offices from county commissioner to U.S. Senator must register with county elections offices or the Office of Secretary of State to get their names onto ballots for this year’s elections cycle. The 596 races on this year’s Washington ballots include legislative races in every…

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Happy Birthday, Bill of Rights!

Happy Birthday, Bill of Rights!

From the desk of Rand Simmons We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. You probably recognize the quote as the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. Perhaps you memorized it in school. The…

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Don’t forget to take care of your Legislative Building!

Don’t forget to take care of your Legislative Building!

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian Otherwise, you might end up with the sight you have before you: rotting timber, broken windows, and a sagging foundation.  Egads!  Long-time library volunteer Gordon Russ recently uncovered this undated image of Washington’s Territorial Legislative Building in disrepair while processing a portion of the State Library Special Collections. The original capitol building was built for $5,000 appropriated by U.S. Congress as described in Section 13 of the Organic Act of…

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