ELECTION 2016: Presidential primary Tuesday; who filed for state primary in August

Two election notes tonight:

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY TOMORROW: If you’re voting in our state’s presidential primary, tomorrow’s the voting deadline. While the state Republican Party will use its votes to allocate delegates for the national convention, the state Democratic Party is only using the caucus process, so the primary votes are just for show. You can mail your ballot as long as it gets postmarked with tomorrow’s date, or you can drop it off – no postage needed – at one of the county’s dropoff spots, including the dropoff van making its last appearance at West Seattle Stadium:

Joseph and Third, who said they’d received 175 ballots by our 3 pm visit, reminded us that by the August election, West Seattle’s new permanent ballot dropbox will be in place at High Point Library. In the meantime, the ballot van will be at the stadium (4432 35th SW) 10 am-8 pm tomorrow, in the northwest corner of the parking lot. If you’re in south West Seattle or White Center, your closest dropoff van is on 8th SW in Greenbridge, about a block south of Roxbury; that too will be a thing of the past after tomorrow, as White Center also gets a permanent dropbox, at the new library (1409 SW 107th) that opened last Saturday.

AUGUST PRIMARY: Filing for the August primary is over, and here’s the list of who’ll be on ballots for state and federal offices in our state. Both 34th District State House Representatives have challengers this time (names are linked to the campaign sites/pages we found):

State Rep. Position 1
Eileen Cody (incumbent Democrat)
Brendan Kolding (Democrat)
Matthew Benson (Republican)

State Rep. Position 2
Joe Fitzgibbon (incumbent Democrat)
Andrew Pilloud (Republican)

Benson and Pilloud are the first Republicans to run in the 34th District since 2010, when Ray Carter challenged Cody while declaring his party preference “Reluctantly Republican”; in 2014, Cody was unopposed, while Kolding ran against Fitzgibbon; in 2012, Cody had a Democratic opponent, while Fitzgibbon was unopposed.

Also of local note, West Seattleite KumRoon “Mr. Mak” Maksirisombat (his ballot listing includes the nickname), a teacher at Chief Sealth International High School, is one of the nine candidates in the running for state Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The state primary election is August 2nd.

JayDee May 23, 2016 (9:53 pm)

For the Demos: Why did we waste the effort for a Potemkin Village of a primary? Tell WA state not to waste money for a nothing primary.

onion May 23, 2016 (10:03 pm)

I voted, although the Democrats process is bulls–t. Very unhappy that the primary is only for show, and manipulated by the party. John Oliver even made fun of us, although my annoyance long preceded him.

Azimuth May 23, 2016 (10:14 pm)

When in doubt I vote for the person with the coolest name.

Howard May 24, 2016 (2:46 am)

We need a new Voting Rights Act.

Scuba Frog May 24, 2016 (4:09 am)

The Democratic Party is desperately in need of new leadership. Superdelegates need to go. End caucusing. Until then masses of potential Democrats will remain Indies (like me). I’m not going to vote in this primary “for show”. Good heavens DNC.

Coolest name I’ve seen in Presidential campaigns so far: Vermin Supreme

Nick May 24, 2016 (6:01 am)

Nice to see someone running against Cody she needs to go.

JVP May 24, 2016 (6:02 pm)

This junk is so confusing and wasteful. Gee, no wonder why voter turnout in ‘murica is so low.

Both D and R leadership are pretty darn skilled at suppressing turnout when it suits their desire for power. Gah!

Neighbor May 25, 2016 (12:51 pm)

Actually, this process seems to be a better (more representative) reflection of the will of voters in the democratic primary than the caucuses, because Sanders supporters weren’t around to shout down/discourage participation among Clinton supporters like they were at many caucus locations.

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