Reminder – tomorrow’s the voting deadline for the August 4th primary election. If you use a dropbox, you have to get your ballot into one by 8 pm Tuesday; if you use postal mail, your ballot must be postmarked by tomorrow. (The nearest dropboxess are in The Junction, High Point, White Center, and South Park.) What are you voting on? Quick summary: No local ballot measures; among candidates, our area’s State House representatives, Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, are both running for re-election unopposed. Our area’s U.S. House Rep. Pramila Jayapal has four primary opponents. The ballot also includes statewide offices – at the top of the ballot, Gov. Jay Inslee has 35 primary opponents.

Reminders from King County Elections, with the August 4th primary nearing:

Those who wish to vote in the August 4 Primary election have until Monday, July 27 to register online or have their mailed registration form received by King County Elections.

In-person registration will continue through 8 pm on Election Day, August 4. Eligible voters can register in person at the King County Elections headquarters in Renton or at a Vote Center. Voters who come in person should wear a mask and be prepared to follow social distancing protocols.

Starting on July 31 in Renton and August 1 in Seattle at CenturyLink Field Event Center, King County Elections will offer curbside service to voters needing to register to vote or receive a replacement ballot. Voters can pre-order their replacement ballot online or call King County Elections at 206-296-VOTE (8683) to pre-register ahead of time to reduce their wait time.

King County Elections mailed Primary election ballots to registered voters on July 15. Any voter who has not received their ballot should request a replacement ballot online or call King County Elections at 206-296-VOTE (8683) for immediate assistance.

To be eligible to register to vote, you must be:

A citizen of the United States
A legal resident of Washington state
At least 18 years old by Election Day
Not under the authority of the Department of Corrections
Not disqualified from voting due to a court order
Voters can visit the Elections website or contact the Elections office for assistance and information.

Ready to vote? You can use postal mail or a KC Elections dropbox to turn your ballot in, stamp-free, by 8 pm Tuesday, August 4th.

If you’re registered to vote, you’ll get a ballot within the next few days – King County Elections has just mailed the ballots for the August 4th primary election. No local ballot measures; among candidates, our area’s State House representatives, Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, are both running for re-election unopposed. Our area’s U.S. House Rep. Pramila Jayapal has four primary opponents. The ballot also includes statewide offices – at the top of the ballot, Gov. Jay Inslee has 35 primary opponents. As usual, you’ll be able to either mail in your ballot or use an official drop box (the nearest ones are in The Junction, High Point, White Center, and South Park). And if you’re not yet registered to vote – go here!

With everything else that’s been going on, you might be forgiven for forgetting that this is a major election year, too. Last week was candidate-filing week in our state, and the list of who’ll be on the August primary ballot has just been finalized. We have heard from a West Seattle resident who is running for statewide office – Joshua Casey is one of two challengers running against first-term state auditor Pat McCarthy. Here’s his announcement:

Joshua Casey, a resident of Seattle, has made the decision to join the race for Washington’s State Auditor. He is challenging the incumbent who, according to Casey, potentially put lives at risk by not understanding the risks of poor planning for a pandemic or disaster.

When asked why he joined the race, Casey said, “It has become apparent through this pandemic that the incumbent auditor’s lack of technical expertise has indirectly hindered state and local government’s response to COVID-19. Routine audits employed in the private sector, like comprehensive pandemic and disaster planning assessments, have been passed over at the auditor’s office—even as the budget increased by almost 20% in two years. As a result, state and local government were forced to work through issues in real time that, with better planning provided through an audit, could have been avoided.” Casey then said, “In many states, to be the state auditor, a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) license is required, and when you see poor leadership like this, it is clear why this is the case. To become a CPA, a candidate usually must have an advanced degree, pass the CPA exam, have hands-on experience, and often pass an ethics exam. For this reason, in the private sector, a CPA license is required to sign audit reports—why should the public sector be held to a lower standard?”

Joshua Casey is the only CPA running for the office and is the only candidate with relevant financial and operational audit experience. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in information systems and operations management from the University of Florida. Also, he has over a decade of accounting and auditing experience, including leading and managing teams for two top global audit firms, Deloitte and PwC.

“If elected, in my first few days of holding office, I would identify high-risk areas that are not currently being audited, like a comprehensive disaster preparedness assessment, and add them to the schedule, while also leaving flexibility in the process to address emerging risks,” Casey said. “Then, as I’ve done with many clients, I would review the existing audit processes and identify areas worth modernizing with cutting edge audit technology like Robotics Process Automation (RPA) — with the aim to streamline existing processes and better utilize the existing budget to perform more efficient and higher quality audits.”

Joshua Casey brings a combination of expertise and leadership to his campaign for Washington State Auditor. Further, as a CPA he is required to be independent and objective in his audits—unlike his opponents. Casey looks forward to applying his knowledge in office while prioritizing the safety of all Washingtonians.

Incumbent McCarthy, who like Casey is running as a Democrat, is a former Pierce County Executive; the state website says there’s also a Republican in the race, Chris Leyba of Tacoma. This year’s statewide primary is August 4th.

The State Legislature is done for the year, and Gov. Inslee continues to sign bills. Today, one of them included high-profile legislation by 34th District State Sen. Joe Nguyen of West Seattle. Here’s the announcement:

Gov. Jay Inslee today signed into law comprehensive regulations on the use of facial recognition technology in Washington.

Senate Bill 6280, sponsored by Sen. Joe Nguyen, prohibits the use of facial recognition technology for ongoing surveillance and limits its use to acquiring evidence of serious criminal offense following authorization of a search warrant.

“Right now, we have seen this technology already being used without much concern for the moral implications that are associated with it,” said Nguyen. “This bill will change that, and ensure that facial recognition isn’t being used unless there are regulatory checks and balances.”

Given reports of the technology’s bias against women, trans individuals, and people of color, SB 6280 establishes guidelines and oversight to protect against discriminatory applications.

“Now is the time to really work on this and find ways to root out the bias, so people across the country can be protected from unnecessary and intrusive surveillance,” Nguyen said.

The bill requires agencies using the technology to produce an accountability report outlining its intended use. Additionally, the use of facial recognition technology would be subject to formal review to ensure accurate representation.

“This bill begins the process of catching our laws up to where our technology is at,” said Nguyen. “I’m proud that Washington is the leader on this issue.”

First numbers are in for the presidential primary. First, the STATEWIDE numbers (updated 9:52 pm):

Bernie Sanders – 335,498 – 32.71%
Joseph R. Biden – 333,414 – 32.51%
Elizabeth Warren – 126,093 – 12.29%
Michael Bloomberg – 113,422 – 11.06%
Pete Buttigieg – 59,868 – 5.84%
Amy Klobuchar – 31,425 – 3.06%
Tulsi Gabbard – 8,550 – 0.83%
Andrew Yang – 4,872 – 0.48%
Uncommitted Delegates – 4,828 – 0.47%
Tom Steyer – 3,098 – 0.3%
Michael Bennet – 1,561 0.15%
Write-in – 1,110 – 0.11%
Cory Booker – 1,054 – 0.1%
John Delaney – 461 – 0.04%
Deval Patrick – 393 – 0.04%

We will update those numbers as the evening goes on. Next, here are KING COUNTY numbers, and since the next release is not until tomorrow, these will NOT change tonight (10:03 pm, substituted ordered table for screengrab):

Bernie Sanders – 130,621 – 33.61%
Joseph R. Biden – 126,252 – 32.49%
Elizabeth Warren – 59,078 – 15.20%
Michael Bloomberg – 34,011 – 8.75%
Pete Buttigieg – 20,041 – 5.16%
Amy Klobuchar – 11,453 – 2.95%
Tulsi Gabbard 2,281 0.59%
Andrew Yang – 1,752 – 0.45%
Uncommitted Delegates – 1,121 – 0.29%
Tom Steyer – 729 – 0.19%
Michael Bennet – 394 – 0.10%
Cory Booker – 350 – 0.09%
Write-in – 339 – 0.09 %
Deval Patrick 112 0.03 %
John Delaney – 99 – 0.03%

The Republican primary was uncontested.

(WSB photo, Monday)

That’s the King County Elections ballot dropbox in The Junction, one of two in West Seattle. You can take your ballot to an official dropbox up until 8 pm sharp to vote in today’s presidential primary. The one in our photo is on the sidewalk alongside the parking lot on the southwest corner of 44th/Alaska. The other West Seattle box is by High Point Library on the southeast corner of 35th/Raymond. There are also boxes at the libraries in White Center (1409 SW 107th) and South Park (8604 8th Ave. S.) – the full countywide list/map is here. The slot is right on the front of the boxes – you should be able to get your ballot in without touching the box, if you’re worried about that. The county says it’s emptied the busiest boxes multiple times already today but if you see signs one is full – report it to 206-296-8683.

You of course can use the U.S. Postal Service too, but if you are going to do that, get to a post office ASAP, because it has to be postmarked today. West Seattle’s two post offices are in The Junction at 4426 California SW and at Westwood Village, 2721 SW Trenton. As usual, we expect to see one round of results shortly after 8 pm, and daily updates thereafter. Democrats will use the election results to allocate delegates, and the next step will be legislative-district caucuses like the one for our area, the 34th District, on April 26th – that process is explained on the 34th District Democrats‘ Election HQ page.

The coronavirus concerns have NOT changed the timetable for our state’s presidential primary, so we’re reminding you again today: The King County Elections ballot dropboxes like that one in The Junction are open until 8 pm Tuesday (March 10th); locations around the county are on this list – West Seattle has two, SW Alaska west of California SW, and SW Raymond east of 35th SW. You can also send your ballot by postal mail, no stamp needed, but to be sure it’s postmarked by Tuesday, you’ll want to mail it by tomorrow. Need a ballot or envelope? Here’s what to do.

That’s the King County Elections ballot dropbox in The Junction – one of your options for getting your ballot in before the deadline for our state’s presidential primary. It’s just west of the bus stop on the south side of SW Alaska, west of California SW. West Seattle’s other dropbox is on the southeast side of the High Point Library, south side of SW Raymond east of 35th SW. Other not-too-distant dropboxes are at the White Center and South Park libraries; their locations and the others around the county are on this list. If you use a dropbox, you have until 8 pm Tuesday, March 10th, to drop off your ballot. You of course can send it by postal mail, too. no stamp needed, but you want to be sure it’s postmarked by March 10th, so mailing it by March 9th is a good idea.

Not registered? It’s not too late – tomorrow is the deadline for online registration, but you can register in person until 8 pm on Election Day – more info here.

Remember that as first discussed here, you have to make a party declaration (“my party preference is the Democratic Party” or “I am a Republican” ) on the envelope, along with signing.

Need a ballot or envelope? Here’s what to oo.