FRIDAY ELECTION UPDATE #2: Shannon Braddock now 104 votes ahead of Lisa Herbold in City Council District 1

(UPDATED 7:03 PM with day’s second results release)

4:12 PM: The first of two expected vote-count updates for today is out and in the Seattle City Council District 1 race, Shannon Braddock‘s lead over Lisa Herbold has shrunk again –

Braddock – 10,078 – 50.74%
Herbold – 9,691 – 48.79%

That’s a 387-vote gap, with thousands more ballots remaining to be counted. Last night, Braddock’s lead was 638 votes.

4:41 PM: To be more specific about ballots remaining, the county releases a nightly count (8 pm) of how many ballots have been returned. As of last night’s count, 27,298 ballots were in and “ready to count” in District 1. Just under 20,000 have been counted (in addition to the Herbold and Braddock numbers above, 94 ballots were tallied as “write-ins”).

Probably a good time for you to check the status of your ballot – invariably there are some whose signatures weren’t validated or which haven’t (yet) been counted for one reason or another, and you may still be able to fix that – go here to check. (And note that the final stage is “your ballot will be counted” – that does NOT mean it hasn’t been counted yet, it’s just the final status they give.)

7:03 PM: Second run of the day is in – Herbold is now 104 votes behind Braddock.

Braddock – 10,905 – 50.02%
Herbold – 10,801 – 49.54%

9:37 PM: As pointed out in comments, the total number of votes in the race does not equal the number of ballots counted – this version of the results (unlike the plain-text version) shows the number counted per race, and it says 24,000+ have been counted, leaving 3,000+ as of this evening’s returns.

44 Replies to "FRIDAY ELECTION UPDATE #2: Shannon Braddock now 104 votes ahead of Lisa Herbold in City Council District 1 "

  • M November 6, 2015 (5:51 pm)

    I would be curious to see what the zote breakdown is between West Seattle and South Park. I wonder why they lumped us in one district. I honestly don’t even know where South Park is. I’m sure I’m not alone. I would imagine we have different needs than that community.

  • Joe Szilagyi November 6, 2015 (6:02 pm)

    @M each district is like this. Volunteer Park mansions among the CD voters; Laurelhurst billionaires with Ave rats. D1 is everything west of the river. Please let’s also not do any implied exclusionary talk like that.

  • Kathy November 6, 2015 (6:07 pm)

    M – Take a nice bike ride from the west end of the Lower West Seattle Bridge along the West Duwamish Trail to the 1st Avenue Bridge. Follow the trail under the bridge to cross SW Holden Street with the pedestrian signal. The trail continues down to a newly completed section along Portland Street and follows it into South Park. Follow the residential streets to the river. It’s a mixed residential/small industrial neighborhood with parks, a community center, public library, the Duwamish Rowing Club, a few restaurants/cafes and marina/boat launching. And probably much more that I am not aware of.

  • miws November 6, 2015 (6:13 pm)

    I honestly don’t even know where South Park is.

    .

    https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5241258,-122.3407419,14z

    .

    Mike

  • Kathy November 6, 2015 (6:45 pm)

    M – by the way, don’t miss out on the South Park annual Festivals/Cultural events:

    http://allaboutsouthpark.com/news-events/annual-events/

  • D-Mom November 6, 2015 (7:02 pm)

    Very cool! Thanks for the link to track the ballot status. I didn’t know you could do that. Happy to report mine is verified, but not counted yet, so 1 more coming for Lisa. I sure hope she takes the lead.

    • WSB November 6, 2015 (7:04 pm)

      Just updated with tonight’s second ballot count. Herbold is now 104 votes behind Braddock. Might write a separate story on that.

  • M November 6, 2015 (7:08 pm)

    Yikes. Down to 104 votes. Are there recounts if the vote is too close?

    • WSB November 6, 2015 (7:09 pm)

      Yes, there is a mandatory-recount level, I have to look it up.

  • Junctionite November 6, 2015 (7:29 pm)

    Any idea how many are left to be counted? Will the rest wait until Monday?

    • WSB November 6, 2015 (7:35 pm)

      Junctionite – we’ll know at 8 pm, when the county’s nightly count of “ballot returns” comes out. It’ll be here: https://info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/ballotreturnstats/default.aspx
      .
      As you can see there, last night’s count showed 27,000+ ballots returned and countable. So more than 5,000 ballots remain to be counted in District 1. Next count due Monday around 4:30 pm (pro tip, start checking around 3:55 pm). – TR

  • LivesinWS November 6, 2015 (7:34 pm)

    Way to go! Come on, Lisa!

  • chemist November 6, 2015 (7:34 pm)

    Recount triggers – http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/referenceresources/voting101/glossary/recounts.aspx

    Machine – Less than 2,000 votes and less than 0.5% (.005) of the total votes cast for both candidates

    Hand recount – Less than 150 votes and less than 0.25% (.0025) of the total votes cast for both candidates

  • JoB November 6, 2015 (8:06 pm)

    this is why i didn’t make a protest vote

  • rw November 6, 2015 (8:17 pm)

    Every district has a mix of neighborhoods and demographics–as they should. The best candidate is the one who will best serve them all. That is how I voted and I hope whoever comes out on top upholds that principle.

  • rw November 6, 2015 (8:24 pm)

    It surprises me that the election department would take the weekend after the election off. It’s their most important job, and voters and candidates alike deserve to know the outcome asap.

  • E November 6, 2015 (8:53 pm)

    Because of course elections workers don’t have families or anything else – they exist only to be underpaid minions for the rest of us.

  • Ivan November 6, 2015 (9:02 pm)

    Election Department workers deserve a weekend off just like everybody else does. Speaking for myself, I would rather have the ballots counted correctly and accurately than quickly.

  • pelicans November 6, 2015 (9:06 pm)

    rw, thank you. That is the most succinct way of describing the best reason for switching back to this way of electing our city council reps.

  • acemotel November 6, 2015 (9:08 pm)

    The weekend cliffhanger…..

  • Diane November 6, 2015 (9:23 pm)

    KC Elections really makes us work to get all the updated info
    ~
    go here for updated ballots “verified and ready to count” in D-1; 27,512 as of tonight
    ~
    https://info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/ballotreturnstats/default.aspx
    ~
    then you have to download this 100+ page pdf, and go to page 45 for ballots counted in D-1
    ~
    http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/2015/nov-general/results/results.pdf
    ~
    Ballots counted: 24,205 as of tonight
    ~
    so that leaves only 3307 more ballots ready to count, as of tonight
    ~
    then you have to go to another page for schedule; next ballot result is Monday at 4:30pm
    ~
    and Tuesday at 4:30pm
    ~
    then nothing on Wednesday because of Veterans Day
    ~
    so we have a nail-biter weekend; hopefully we’ll have significant results by Tuesday evening

    • WSB November 6, 2015 (9:33 pm)

      So if that’s true, 2,500 people who went to all the trouble of voting didn’t vote in the D-1 race? Of all things *not* to vote on.

  • wsea98116 November 6, 2015 (9:38 pm)

    If you track the very consistent trend, it’s really not much of a nail-biter.

  • ScubaFrog November 6, 2015 (9:54 pm)

    Unfortunate how they tried to paint Lisa as Sawant’s “socialist darling”. Shannon ran a dirty campaign. I’d naively expected more integrity from Shannon’s camp.

    Go Lisa! Let’s bring it home for the win.

  • chemist November 6, 2015 (9:54 pm)

    I guess that’s one downfall of having 11 candidates, you’ll end up with some people disenfranchised and just not willing to vote for the two who make it through. With the large Herbold swing from the 4-7 count, out of just 1,939 votes added, I think 3,307 ballots remaining is still enough.

  • MsD November 6, 2015 (10:17 pm)

    M: If you don’t know where South Park is, how could you know that it shouldn’t be in the same district as West Seattle? For all you know, it’s a gated, exclusive enclave high above Alki. I’m assuming that type of community would have needs that you would find compatible with your part of West Seattle.

  • Kimmy November 6, 2015 (10:28 pm)

    I’m one of the 2500. I couldn’t muster the urge to vote for a candidate I do not support just to keep one I like slightly less out of office. I vote with heart and passion, which I don’t have for either of these candidates unfortunately. Hoping for more diverse candidates in the future.

  • AmandaKH November 6, 2015 (10:50 pm)

    ScubaFrog – You kinda have that backwards. It was Lisa that co-opted the “Not For Sale” slogan from Sawant… Implying that Shannon could be bought. That’s dirty politics IMO

  • thisisagooddeal November 6, 2015 (10:51 pm)

    ScubaFrog, how exactly did Shannon run a dirty campaign?

  • JanS November 7, 2015 (12:12 am)

    so, Kimmy…are you that way every time you vote? What about presidential elections? You may not be crazy about the candidates, but there is always reason to vote, even if your heart and passion aren’t exactly thrilled. Remember…we could end up with a Prez Trump, Prez Carson (oh,my) or Prez Cruz….it’s that way with local elections, too.

  • I. Ponder November 7, 2015 (12:14 am)

    Anyone know how many registered voters in our new city council district? Wondering how many of us didn’t vote.

  • Ivan November 7, 2015 (5:33 am)

    There have been few more ardent Lisa supporters on these comment threads than I am, and I reject, emphatically, any suggestion, implication, or flat statement that Shannon Braddock ever ran a “dirty campaign,” or anything close to it. She did not, at any time, and that kind of talk should cease immediately.
    .
    The Independent Expenditures that contributed to Braddock’s campaign, which Braddock’s campaign is forbidden by law to coordinate with, and vice versa, made quite a few stupid and untrue statements. One example out of many was that Lisa was “trying to bring Sawant-style socialism to West Seattle,” as if Lisa, after 17 years of policy and constituent work in city government, was all of a sudden Sawant’s puppet.
    .
    Nonsense though it was, it was normal campaign rhetoric. Anyone living outside the little good-government bubble that is Seattle, in places where politics is a real blood sport, would ignore it altogether.
    .
    But in the context of Seattle, the sheer volume of money thrown into this race was the issue, the 800-pound gorilla. How could it NOT have been? Braddock can’t be blamed entirely for that, but that was what “Not for sale” was responding to.
    .
    To call such a response “dirty politics” is only jealousy speaking. The sour grapes are just embarrassing. Please eat them in private.

  • BrianD November 7, 2015 (7:23 am)

    Lisa seemed quite smug on election night, running behind but quite confident that later votes would pull her ahead. Did she know something that no one else did?

    • WSB November 7, 2015 (8:01 am)

      BrianD, I was stationed at the Herbold party while co-publisher Patrick was at the Braddock event and I can most certainly say she did not seem “smug.” When she brought her supporters forward for acknowledgments after a while, they – especially Leslie Harris, who at that point had reason for giddiness with a 75-25 percent lead – were more in consolation mode and she looked to me like she was putting on a brave but disappointed face.

  • rw November 7, 2015 (7:50 am)

    For once –and I’m shocked to say it — I’m in almost total agreement with what Ivan says. As for an earlier comment suggesting that I am opposed to district elections, I heartily disagree. In fact district elections brought about a level of discussion and interest that I hadn’t experienced in 20 years living here. My only regret is that I couldn’t vote in district 3 as well.

  • BrianD November 7, 2015 (8:16 am)

    WSB – Thanks for that clarification.

  • Rick November 7, 2015 (10:25 am)

    Bring on the Fat Lady!

    • WSB November 7, 2015 (10:48 am)

      The proverbial FL won’t be able to sing until November 24th, official certification of the election. And if the final result is within a recount margin, the singing will be pushed further into the holiday season.

  • Joe Szilagyi November 7, 2015 (11:47 am)

    “Anyone know how many registered voters in our new city council district? Wondering how many of us didn’t vote.”
    .
    60,200 registerered I believe, and we’re pushing 40s% for turnout now. A little better than expected but nothing special.

  • Joe Szilagyi November 7, 2015 (11:50 am)

    “Lisa seemed quite smug on election night, running behind but quite confident that later votes would pull her ahead. Did she know something that no one else did?”
    .
    Lisa honestly seemed more disappointed than most of us supporters did. The thing we’re seeing now is a common thing in Seattle politics since we went mail voting — older and/or more moderate to right leaning folks tend to vote early and immediately when ballots come in, while younger and /or more left leaning people tend to vote later and dawdle closer to true election day.
    .
    We saw this most vividly when Kshama Sawant beat three-term City Council President Richard Conlin. On Election Day he was up 10+%, and a week later he lost by 3% or so. Coincidentally, over in District 2/southeast, Tammy Morales may be about to pull off a similar upset of incumbent Bruce Harrell.

  • Diane November 7, 2015 (3:57 pm)

    I was also at Lisa’s party, within 10 ft of Lisa when she was reading the election night results on a smartphone; even before she read it out-loud, I saw expressions on her face, and knew it was bad; Lisa was incredible in keeping up a brave face amongst her crowd of supporters; and we were last to leave the building at end of party; ZERO smugness at any point; significant disappointment all around, and trying to remain optimistic; and even though I’ve worked closely with her campaign for 8+ months, and nearly daily contact with Lisa, I heard/saw nothing from her for couple days; I expected she was finally having some quality time with her mama who came out from NY again to help Lisa get elected; the first I heard from Lisa this week was when she put her wonderful “mommy” on a plane, and shared “feeling grateful”; so not sure how anyone could assess Lisa at any point as having been smug; quite the opposite; Lisa is the epitome of grace, poise, humility; and her proud momma’s perfect descriptor of her daughter, “valiant”

  • anonyme November 8, 2015 (8:54 am)

    Are the 2,500 confirmed as not voting at all in the D1 race, or are some/most/all write-ins?

    I was one of the write-ins. There are very few candidates I’ve ever been passionate about, and I decided I’m too old to play it safe any more. I voted my conscience.

  • Diane November 8, 2015 (12:56 pm)

    this comment from election expert Ben Anderstone; “To be clear, spoiled ballots are not rejected ballots. Spoiled ballots are valid ballots that do not contain a vote in this race, or have a write-in, which doesn’t count as a valid vote (since there are no declared write-in candidates). …… the number of people who knowingly didn’t vote for Herbold or Braddock.”
    ~
    anonyme; you may have voted your conscience; but per KC Election rules, it’s not counted toward whatever candidate you wrote in
    ~
    I did one write-in this year, knowing it would not be counted, and just wanted to make a point that perhaps only made me feel better; it was NOT for any of the Seattle City Council positions; it was for an unopposed position, so makes zero impact; I wrote in ANYBODY ELSE

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