ELECTION 2024: Ballots due tomorrow!

Another reminder that tomorrow night (Tuesday, August 6) is the deadline for voting in the statewide primary. As of this morning, only 17.2% of Seattle ballots have been received at King County Elections. The ballots received by voters in West Seattle have 14 races – U.S. Senate, U.S. House District 7, Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, State Attorney General, State Commissioner of Public Lands, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Insurance Commissioner, State House Representative Positions 1 and 2 (two candidates each, so they all advance to November), State Supreme Court Justice Position 2, and Seattle City Council citywide Position 8. (If you haven’t decided in that race, the West Seattle Democratic Women hosted a forum in June with four of the five council candidates; here’s our coverage, with video.)

Mailing your ballot? Get it to the U.S. Postal Service in time for a Tuesday postmark. Using a county dropbox? They are open until 8 pm (sharp!) Tuesday. West Seattle now has four: By Morgan Junction Park, by High Point Library, The Junction, and South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) – exact locations here (along with others, such as White Center and South Park if those are more convenient for you).

anonyme August 5, 2024 (3:34 pm)

It’s so difficult to get an accurate reading of candidates, no matter how hard you try. Even after studying the voter’s pamphlet and visiting the individual candidates websites, I found myself re-opening my ballot envelope to change a vote after hearing an interview on NPR. After another, earlier interview about a month ago I refused to vote for Pramila Jayapal ever again after she called anyone who was not in absolute lockstep with her on every issue “MAGA loving” and making other derogatory comments as well. Often it seems that as much can be learned by what candidates don’t (or refuse to) say than what they actually do. But these interviews were quite revealing in what actually came out of these candidate’s own mouths rather than some PR piece.

waikikigirl August 5, 2024 (4:35 pm)

Remember what a candidate says and does only time will tell. You need to vote and take that chance that word is word and hope the one you chose does what they say. I’m seeing most of the ads/commercials are not true from watching interviews, again time will only tell. VOTE,VOTE, VOTE!https://www.burien.news/blog/three-gubernatorial-candidates-discuss-crime-mullet-bird-reichert-candidate-conversations
Seattlite August 5, 2024 (5:29 pm)

You can also look up an incumbent’s voting record.
- K August 5, 2024 (6:21 pm)
  
  Exactly. A voting record says far more about how a candidate’s election will impact your life than what catch phrases they use in interviews. Maybe that’s how we keep getting the politicians we do–people voting for the ones who say the right things instead of the ones that do the right thing.
Mel August 5, 2024 (8:23 pm)

I find it helpful to stay in the know with politicians outside of election season. I listen to many different media sources (left leaning and right leaning) and form my opinions that way. I think people (not saying this is you) who just read the voters guide miss out on a lot of information. I won’t get into naming names, but I’m seeing a lot of money being spent by a candidate who’s clearly lying about what they want to do once they’re elected vs what they’ve been doing in their time as an elected official. Anyone not paying attention would easily be swayed by the ads and what’s in the voters guide. I do think in general people don’t pay enough attention to our local politics which, IMO, matter just as much if not more than our federal elections.

Whisky Woods August 5, 2024 (3:49 pm)

Fill them out and send them in.., No postage required.

anonyme August 6, 2024 (7:29 am)

We should all be doing all of these things, and it takes some work to get an accurate read on even one candidate – much less a ballot full of them. Some of the candidates seem to come from nowhere, so it’s more difficult to get a grasp of who they are – which is where things like voting records become helpful, but don’t tell the entire story. I do understand that it gets a bit overwhelming for a lot of people, and politicians are very aware of how to manipulate those voters. There have been some fairly dirty dealings this cycle, especially in regard to the governor’s race.