Did you get your ballot today too?

Voting has begun for the August 4th primary. If you’re like many people and planning to leave your ballot unopened for a while as you decide what to do, here’s what you need to know:

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL
You have three positions to vote on – technically, no incumbents, because these are all-new seats, seven districts and two at-large:
—District 1 (this is the one we’ve been talking about the most, the first-ever West Seattle/South Park seat), with nine candidates)
—Position 8 (this is one of the two at-large City Council seats, with four candidates)
—Position 9 (the other at-large City Council seat with six candidates)

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION
You’ll be voting on two spots
—Position 2 (three candidates, including the incumbent)
—Position 5 (nine candidates, no incumbent)

SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
You’ll be voting on one board position
–District 6 (three candidates, including the incumbent)

KING COUNTY ELECTIONS DIRECTOR
–Three candidates, no incumbent

It’s been a busy primary season, with the first City Council District 1 candidates’ forum in February, the “First Look” forum we presented at Highland Park Improvement Club on February 5th. Four candidates were in the race; two of them are among the nine on your ballot now. Others jumped in (and in some cases jumped out) after that. The final forum was this past Wednesday night at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), presented by SSC and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. While it was in the “candi-dating” format, which means no way to record it in its entirety without a small army of videographers, we did get the opening statement by all participants:

(Those statements start at 5 minutes into the video; 8 of the candidates were there.) In the past week, we also have recorded interviews with each of the nine D-1 candidates, one at a time, in case you’re interested in a “Last Look” before you cast your vote. We will publish them simultaneously at some point in the next few days, as soon as the stories to accompany them are all ready. You can also review our coverage by scrolling through our West Seattle Politics archive, here. All this assumes you didn’t cast your vote the second the ballot showed up; if not, you have 2 1/2 weeks, so no rush. But do vote – this election is historic, with the council change to 7 district reps plus 2 at-large.