City Council District 1 race: Who’s in, and why the lone signature-gatherer might be out

The official filing period for this year’s elections is over. And for one of the first candidates to jump into the City Council District 1 race, it’s taken a turn at the end:

Amanda Kay Helmick, who’s been running since October, was the only District 1 candidate to declare she would get onto the ballot by collecting signatures instead of paying the $1,199.76 fee. We wanted to photograph that unique moment of the first-ever District 1 campaign, so we covered her visit to the County Elections Department offices in Renton at midday today as she turned in her stack of petitions.

The staff explained they would start verifying the signatures immediately, and offered her the chance to leave a standby check for the filing fee in case she fell short, since the filing deadline was just hours away. She declined, explaining to us in a short interview afterward that she believes a candidate should be put on the ballot by the people, not by money.

Then, late in the day, Helmick told us the Elections Department notified her she had fallen short and did not qualify for the ballot – she turned in 1,318 signatures but fell 26 short. She is asking for a “judicial review,” but for now, she’s not on the list: “I am supremely disappointed,” she told WSB, “but determined to at least see this all the way through.”

The nine candidates who are on the list, according to the unofficial list on the KC Elections website, are:

Pavel Goberman
Chas Redmond
Arturo Robles
Phillip Tavel
Shannon Braddock
Lisa Herbold
Jody Rushmer
Karl Wirsing
Brianna Thomas

Robles, Rushmer, and Wirsing just surfaced in the past week and a half; the other six have been in for a while, starting with Redmond, who declared his candidacy almost a year and a half ago.

Also of local note: County Councilmember Joe McDermott is running unopposed; two more candidates have joined the local School Board (Position 6) race since last night’s candidate forum, and the field is now Suzanne L. Sutton, Nick Esparza, Marty McLaren, and Leslie Harris. (Of the four school-board positions on the ballot this fall, McLaren is the only incumbent running for re-election.) Though the filing period has closed, this all remains “unofficial” until KC Elections finalizes it early next week. The primary election is on August 4th.

SillyGoose May 16, 2015 (9:35 am)

I am so proud you chose the vote of the people to throw your hat into the ring and now sadly you are at the wrath of the ridiculous system of guesstimating!! You would think in 2015 we would have acutals instead of guesstimates. You are smart to challenge it and now during this challenge period legally you can collect more signatures to supplement the shortage!! Read between the lines, I have ran the gamet with the Elections Department during the Monrail Campaign!! Demand proof of everything!!

Pete May 16, 2015 (9:44 am)

What is a “judicial review” and how would that get Amanda on the ballot?

AmandaKH May 16, 2015 (9:55 am)

Details of the process to review the signatures and get a judicial review are forthcoming. There are several signatures that are being rejected for things like “signatures don’t match” or “cancelled for not voting in the last two presidential elections”. This is raising more questions about the rules in which we have to abide in order to have our voices heard. I vow to see this thing though to the end, regardless of ballot status.

Chris May 16, 2015 (10:25 am)

“Cancelled for not voting in the last two presidential elections”? I would never have thought such a restriction would weigh in on the validity of signatures. It makes me wonder what else “disqualifies” signatures.

Also, is it true that a candidate can gather more signatures while the recount is being done?

ChefJoe May 16, 2015 (10:30 am)

For all his “civic-mindedness”, you’d think Tim Eyman would put out some pamphlets of all the landmines involved in signature gathering. Rather sad that “signatures don’t match” matters to just apply to be on a ballot…. this isn’t a presidential election validation signature afterall.
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Hope it all works out Amanda and I admire your principle. Lord knows it would have been far easier to cut a check and spend time trying to fund-raise to pay that back.

Julie Gramm May 16, 2015 (10:31 am)

Even if you don’t make it this time, I hope you’ll try again. You’re getting name recognition, which should help in the future. Good luck!

Melissa May 16, 2015 (10:41 am)

Cancelled for not voting in the last two presidential elections?? So any of us who weren’t WA State voters in 2008 or 2012 had our signatures invalidated? That’s really disappointing to hear. I hope you’re successful, Amanda. My husband and I enjoyed meeting you and looked forward to seeing your name on the ballot.

RayK May 16, 2015 (12:57 pm)

Sad.

Wakeflood May 16, 2015 (1:49 pm)

Has to be a way to make this happen. Estimating means a moving target and that’s not right. Really sad. Amanda’s a wonderful voice of the people and that’s in very short supply these days.

Diane May 16, 2015 (2:17 pm)

Amanda, so sorry to hear; major kudos to you for persevering; weird as hell (and wrong) that signatures could be rejected for “not voting”; weren’t we told the rule for signing was simply being registered voter and living in D-1???

ChefJ May 16, 2015 (3:56 pm)

Maybe the “not voted recently” isn’t rejected so much as they don’t have automatic comparisons loaded up in their computers so they will be researched before being counted?

Joe Szilagyi May 16, 2015 (9:10 pm)

Is it seriously law that King County Elections can discount or invalidate signatures on ballots for “not voting in the last two presidential elections”? This is absolutely insane and sounds downright unconstitutional, by treating citizens as different classes.
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By that rationale, an 18-year old with a birthday after November 2012 registered voter District 1 resident that signed her petition? Invalid, because he couldn’t have voted in the past two Presidential elections. By this deranged and criminal logic anyone who wasn’t a registered voter in time for the November 2008 Presidential election — and therefore at least 25 years old — cannot have signed her petitions.
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What about someone that moved to West Seattle or South Park in 2009 and registered to vote then?
I’m not a lawyer but if this is the law as written then good Lord does it smell like an overripe violation of equal protection.

Toby Thaler May 16, 2015 (9:33 pm)

I am glad Sherril Huff has decided not to run again to run King County Elections.

cj May 16, 2015 (10:57 pm)

This is just sad.

m May 17, 2015 (1:01 am)

So disappointed that Amanda may not be in the running, especially for the reasons cited. What integrity she’s shown as a tireless neighborhood/citizen advocate over the years.

Please keep us posted as this develops.

dis May 17, 2015 (5:21 pm)

My guess is that not voting in the last two presidential elections is not an absolute disqualifier, but rather a signal that the voter may (or may not) be dead, requiring further analysis.

Pete May 17, 2015 (9:14 pm)

If you would like to help go to Amanda’s website where she has posted a list of the names King County elections rejected for not being a registered voter and other reasons. Look at the list and see if there are names you might recognize and see if you can help Amanda clear some of these names.

Pavel Goberman May 19, 2015 (11:43 am)

If a person does not want to vote for an idiots – no one may push this person to vote, even narrow minded S. Huff. The Constitution does not prohibit it.
Amanda, file with US District Court lawsuit against S. Huff for abuse of the power of office, for violation of the Constitution of the USA and the Code of Ethics for Government Employees.

Pavel Goberman – Candidate for City Council Position 1.

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