ELECTION 2019: 2 weeks left to vote. You have 7 decisions to make.

Two weeks from tonight – on Tuesday, August 6 – the voting ends and the vote-counting begins. You should have your ballot by now. (If not, here’s what you can do.) Not registered yet? Here’s how. Haven’t looked at your ballot yet? Though you’ve likely heard the most about the City Council race, you have six other decisions to make:

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6: Incumbent Leslie Harris is running for a second 4-year term.

(WSB photo from West Seattle Grand Parade 2019)

Harris, the current board president, represents Seattle and South Park, and has two opponents on the primary ballot, Crystal Liston and Molly Mitchell.

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8: Incumbent Joe McDermott is running for re-election.

(WSB photo from West Seattle Grand Parade 2019)

He also has two opponents, Goodspaceguy and Michael Neher.

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION: Two positions, elected countywide, are on this ballot. 7 candidates are running for Position 2 (which incumbent Courtney Gregoire is leaving) – Dominic Barrera, Kelly Charlton, Sam Cho, Grant Degginger, Nina Martinez, Ali Scego, and Preeti Shridhar. For Position 5, incumbent Fred Felleman is running for re-election, challenged by Garth Jacobson and Jordan Lemmon.

TWO LEVIES: You’ll be voting to approve or reject two levies on this ballot – the King County Parks and Open Space levy and the Seattle library levy.

AND OF COURSE: As mentioned and as amply covered here, the City Council District 1 field of three will be trimmed to two. If you want one more side-by-side look at the candidates – incumbent Lisa Herbold, Brendan Kolding, and Phil Tavel – the League of Women Voters forum is next Monday (July 29th), 6 pm at West Seattle (Admiral) Library (2306 42nd SW).

READY TO VOTE? Remember that postage is no longer required, so you can just drop your ballot envelope in any mailbox. The county also has secure dropboxes, including two in West Seattle – The Junction and High Point – and one in White Center; the full countywide list/map is here.

The King July 23, 2019 (3:25 pm)

Brendon Kolding was out knocking on doors Sunday. I’ve lived in the same house for almost 30 years and this is the first person running for council I’ve ever seen in my neighborhood besides Charlie Chong ages ago. Nice guy.

KM July 23, 2019 (5:00 pm)

Brendan walked by my house without knocking today, but Lisa knocked either last week or the week prior. She had her team out last election as well. I’ve canvassed so I know how it can be, never sure what kind of reception you’ll get knocking on doors.

Mark32 July 23, 2019 (3:57 pm)

I agree, I gave him my Democracy dollars.

Mj July 23, 2019 (4:28 pm)

I miss Charlie, old school pragmatic politician.

West Seattle Hipster July 23, 2019 (4:39 pm)

This is a crucial year for Seattle, please vote and help drive the change we need.

Nolan July 24, 2019 (9:51 am)

We really don’t need a Chamber of Commerce council. But sure, do your part to hand the city over to megacorps and their sock puppets while convincing yourself that “change” is intrinsically good.
- GetOverIt July 24, 2019 (11:22 am)
  
  I know it may seem en vogue to be populist, but the constant fearmongering from Progressives about the Chamber of Commerce and corporations in general is downright puerile. Progressives seem to suffer from Peter Pan syndrome, acting like perpetual teenagers raging against the “evil oppressors.” Seattle is not a backwater anymore, and I think we need REAL leaders who are committed to serving ALL of our residents, regardless of whether they are homeless, a major corporation, or anyone in between.
  - Nolan July 24, 2019 (1:07 pm)
    
    If corporations were “residents”, they would have come to the table when the council were trying to find funding for homelessness services, and they would have only fought the head tax by proposing a more equitable method of taxation. Instead, they obstructed and undermined the process at every turn, and when that failed, they funded astroturfing campaigns to repeal it. This all happened while our people are dying in our streets.Don’t kid yourself. Anti-corporate political sentiment isn’t popular because it’s trendy, it’s popular because corporate actions have proven time and time again that they do not care about anything, not even human lives, unless it benefits their bottom line.

rico July 23, 2019 (4:55 pm)

Came to my door as well handing out a three point agenda if elected, 1) fix the police staffing shortage, 2)look for inefficiencies in city spending in lieu if simply raising taxes and levies, and3) get people off the streets into a controlled and contained situation with an emphasis on metal health care, substance abuse and treatment, and job placement. The agenda would be a positive change for Seattle.

Margaret Bartley July 27, 2019 (9:47 am)

I always question, with lots of cynicism, the attractiveness of candidates who talk about inefficiencies in government, but do not talk about how they are going to make the government programs and spending process more transparent. Developing an accounting system that is accurate and complete is not trivial, yet that is necessary if we are seriously going to cut waste. Otherwise, all they do is cut back programs, which may or may not be inefficiently run. I’ve had several jobs at various levels of government, and I can say from first-hand observation that the amount of waste is incredible. Do we really need to spend $35,000 to plant six trees? Do we really need to spend $300,000 to produce a report that will be sent to DC?

Jon Wright July 23, 2019 (5:21 pm)

Why does something like “look for inefficiencies in spending” even get taken seriously as a pledge? EVERY SINGLE POLITICIAN trots that one out as if nobody else ever thought of it. I swear the District 1 race is completely bereft of any meaningful specifics.

Peter July 23, 2019 (5:58 pm)

I voted for the best candidate in the race (redacted this time).

Jethro Marx July 23, 2019 (11:08 pm)

I respect your pluck, but have you checked out Goodspaceguy? His platform is basically: let’s colonize space, but also can we have more parking here on earth? He’s been running for years and I say we give him a shot. Maybe he could make Terminal 5 a spaceport AND a parking lot for RVs and microapartment dwellers whose neighbors don’t want them.

JCW July 23, 2019 (6:42 pm)

Is there another way to request a replacement ballot besides the King County Elections site? Mine is the only one in our household that didn’t show up (all were mailed over 10 days ago), but when I try to request a new ballot, the KC Elections site takes you through a loop of finding your registration, selecting “I need a new ballot” and asking you to look up registration again. At least I can tell no one has used my original ballot, which is handy, but I can’t vote without one!

WSB July 23, 2019 (6:53 pm)

I’d suggest calling them or emailing …they might not know their website has a glitch.

Wsea July 23, 2019 (7:14 pm)

The current school board is a total joke. They have let so much wasteful spending happen that I’m not even sure what they actually do to help students and taxpayers. I say this as an ex-consultant for SPS. Just ask about the 3-4 million questica budget tool they purchased. It barley works. School board was okay about the excess spending.

Rick July 23, 2019 (7:23 pm)

Same here. But I’m pretty sure they know how I’ll vote. Problem solved.

Wenona Teewa July 27, 2019 (9:34 pm)

I’m all in for Tavel as well. How can Council talk about affordability when they keep jacking up property tax levies, becaise they know Seattleites are generous and will vote for EVERY tax increase? They keep raising levies for necessary and popular things like parks and libraries that should come out of general budget.Did you know SPS now has a budget of $1billion and yet perfromance is still poor? I know they’re not part of city council but its lile that in every city dept that I know of. I work for SDOT (not using my real name) and they spend millions on consultants who really end up saying what we knew all along and most of those reports go into a drawer, unless of clurse the resulta fit the narrative they want. And the number of “executives”, directors and so on making high six figures to do nothing are just mind blogging.If what I see at DOT is any indication, there’s easily 30% (or higher) of waste in the budget. This money goes to middle men and kickbacks (in a scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours way). Alot of the money is not going to actual programs or people they’re supposedly serving. I know it sounds unbelievable but trust me, the public would be shocked.I’ve thought of whistleblowing and wish there was a truly anonymous way to do so. Now I’m waiting until I retire in 2 years to do so. I need that pension after 25+ years of service.

Sorry, comment time is over.