As the State Legislature gets ready for its mostly online session starting next month, legislators are choosing leaders, and one from our area has been chosen by his colleagues for a major role. 34th District Sen. Joe Nguyen, a West Seattle resident, has been elected as Assistant Floor Leader by the State Senate Democratic Caucus. The announcement explains, “The Assistant Floor Leader supports the Floor Leader in setting Senate floor agendas and works with bicameral and bipartisan leadership to facilitate discussion.” Sen. Nguyen is midway through his first 4-year term and also is on the Transportation, Environment, Energy & Technology, Rules, and Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation committees. The legislative session is set to start January 11th.

Three weeks after the voting ended, the general-election results for King County are now certified. Three notes:

TURNOUT: Countywide, 86.87 percent, breaking the 85 percent record set in 2012. For the city of Seattle, 88.18 percent. For the 34th Legislative District (West Seattle, White Center, Vashon, part of Burien), 87.64 percent.

PRESIDENTIAL VOTING: Countywide, it was 74.95 percent for Biden/Harris, 22.24 percent for Trump/Pence.

HOW BALLOTS WERE TURNED IN: KCE says 73.9 percent of voters used ballot drop boxes, 24.98 percent mailed in their ballots, and 1.1 percent got theirs in by fax.

More stats are in the KCE news release.

One of last week’s many community meetings featured five West Seattle-residing elected representatives joining forces for an online Town Hall.

Wednesday night’s livestreamed event was hosted by State Sen. Joe Nguyen, with guests State Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, and County Councilmember Joe McDermott.

They presented updates and answered questions. We’ll start with where they ended: Discussing Thanksgiving plans.

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One of the issues brought up in the process of deciding whether to repair or replace the damaged West Seattle Bridge is the cost of future maintenance. Tonight, three councilmembers including West Seattle/South Park’s Lisa Herbold are proposing a car-tab fee to help pay for bridge maintenance citywide, replacing part of a fee that’s about to expire. From the announcement we just received:

With support from labor and business communities, Councilmembers Alex Pedersen, Lisa Herbold, and Andrew J. Lewis today proposed legislation to use Vehicle Licensing Fees to boost maintenance of multimodal bridges throughout Seattle. Vehicle Licensing Fees, which were previously set at $80, would move from $20 to $40 under the new legislation, as authorized by RCW 36.73.065 and RCW 82.80.140. The legislation would raise an additional $3.6 million in 2021 and an additional $7.2 million in subsequent years. The Councilmembers propose to direct the additional funding to bridges with high-frequency public transit.

The Seattle City Auditor recently published a report on the city’s bridges indicating high unmet needs for bridge maintenance. The engineering standard for bridge maintenance in Seattle ranges from $34 million to $102 million per year, and yet the current level for is only $10 million approximately. The city needs to add $24 million at the very least to meet the lowest estimate of maintenance needs. The City Council Budget Chair’s initial balance package restores or funds several transportation projects while adding $4 million to bridge maintenance. By tapping the adjusted vehicle license fees, this legislation would invest another $3.6 million to double the Council’s addition to $7.6 million. This represents an incremental increase to begin meeting a clear need.

So to recap – the current city car-tab fee is at $80 (going toward transit) and scheduled to drop to $20, but this would drop it to $40 instead. The proposed legislation (read it here) is on the council’s “introduction and referral” calendar for the coming week; it likely won’t be voted on until after the council wraps up its budget work just before Thanksgiving.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Next Wednesday, your state legislators and local city/county councilmembers will join forces for an online Town Hall.

The three legislators gave a preview in their appearance at this past Wednesday’s 34th District Democrats meeting.

It began with updates from each: Read More

(WSB photos/video unless otherwise credited)

West Seattle’s Statue of Liberty had a new accessory tonight, we noticed while on rounds just before dark. The inbox brought word of other flags:

The photo is from Xuu206, who explained, “Flags are popping up on houses all over the neighborhood. (Genesee-Junction) Feels so good to be proud to fly our flag again! Ours will be up through Inauguration Day!” And flags were still being waved in The Junction at sunset, more than six hours after we first found revelers at Walk All Ways:

Late in the day, as one reader put it, this turned into more of a dance party, with a DJ in the garage-door-open Easy Street Café:

The DJ: West Seattleite Derek Moon of Soul Focus:

Outside, signs and sightings:

(This photo and next, courtesy FoldingFan)

We went back through California/Alaska after nightfall and just a few people remained outside Easy Street. (Our earlier coverage is here.)

(WSB photo, added 10:29 am)

8:50 AM: In case you haven’t seen/heard it somewhere else already – the presidential race has been called. We heard when someone here on the Gatewood/Fauntleroy line went outside their house and yelled “JOE BIDEN GOT THE WIN!” and now the scanner has multiple reports of fireworks. This is because the state of Pennsylvania has been called for Biden, meaning he’s got 273 electoral votes, three more than needed for election. California Sen. Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman on a winning president/vice president ticket, 36 years after the late Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman on a major-party ticket.

LOCAL NOTE: In King County, the most-recent results count shows 75 percent of the countywide vote for Biden/Harris, 22 percent for Trump/Pence.

9:26 AM: Via Twitter, a sample of West Seattle-residing elected officials’ reactions:

Meantime, multiple drivers have gone through the two-arterial intersection near our HQ, honking,

10:29 AM: We went out to look for spontaneous celebrations, and found some, big and small, In Admiral, outside Circa:

On our second pass through The Junction, flag- and sign-wavers had gathered at Walk All Ways:

Video:

12:30 PM: The Junction revelry continues. Jess sent us this clip, also from Walk All Ways:

Earlier this hour, we participated in a media Q&A with Mayor Jenny Durkan, who says the Biden win increases the chance of federal money for the West Seattle Bridge. Separate story to come. On a more personal note, she said, “I’ve waited a lifetime to see a woman elected to one of the highest offices in America.”

1:20 PM: People are still at Walk All Ways celebrating.

All the post-election suspense is at the national level – but we’re going to present a quick local update anyway.

TURNOUT UPDATE: Will King County hit that 90 percent goal? It’s getting closer – as of tonight, just under 86 percent of ballots countywide had been received; looking just at the city of Seattle, it’s almost 88 percent. (For comparison, the final 2016 percentages were 80.85% countywide, 84.26% for Seattle.)

RESULTS UPDATE: Nothing we were watching at the local/state level was close, and today’s added returns haven’t changed anything. Seattle Transportation Benefit District Prop 1, sales tax to fund extra Metro service, has 8X percent approval, while King County Prop 1, property tax for improvements at Harborview Medical Center, has 77 percent approval. See the updated King County results here, and the updated state results here.

King County is out with its first and only results report – 72.4% of county votes have been counted. Locally, the ballot measures are tonight’s biggest news:

SEATTLE PROPOSITION 1
Sales tax for transit funding
82% yes
18% no

ADDED 8:33 PM: West Seattle/South Park City Councilmember Lisa Herbold on Prop 1:

“Today’s vote in support of Proposition 1 for transit funding is good news for West Seattle. Proposition 1 specifies that up to $9 million annually to support mobility needs related to the closure of the West Seattle Bridge, and COVID-19 response and recovery. With the West Seattle Bridge closed through at least 2022, traffic and access issues will only increase once social distancing ends or decreases. Transit service will be critical to meeting the ambitious goals of SDOT’s Reconnect West Seattle plan. The ballot measure notes Investments could include, in addition to transit service, speed and reliability improvements, first-last mile transit connections, and Transportation Demand Management strategies described in the community-driven Reconnect West Seattle plan.”

Back to results:

KING COUNTY PROPOSITION 1
Harborview Medical Center property tax
78% yes
22% no

ADDED 8:49 PM: From King County Executive Dow Constantine:

“While there are still many votes to be counted, I thank the voters of King County for their support for Harborview Medical Center. These investments will ensure that our region continues to be the best place in the country to receive emergency medical care, and needed seismic upgrades will protect the lives of patients, employees, and visitors to Harborview. Besides helping people with behavioral health needs and better preparing the region to fight pandemics, the measure creates thousands of family-wage construction jobs at a time when our region needs them the most.”

Back to results:

KING COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT 5
Change sheriff from elected to appointed?
56% yes
43% no

We’ll be adding more. Meantime, major races are for Congress and state offices – plus one state ballot measure of note – those results are here:

U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 7
(Includes West Seattle)
Pramila Jayapal (D) 85%
Craig Keller (R) 15%

ADDED 11:45 PM: Rep. Jayapal (a West Seattle resident) thanked voters via Twitter, adding:

I am humbled, grateful & ready to serve again. Our path to truly build a more just & equitable country is long. But we are bold, progressive & unafraid, and if we believe in the possible & organize, we WILL win!

GOVERNOR
Jay Inslee (D) 60%
Loren Culp (R) 40%

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Denny Heck (D) 47%
Marko Liias (D) 34%

SECRETARY OF STATE
Kim Wyman (R) 52%
Gael Tarleton (D) 48%

STATE REFERENDUM 90
Sex education
Approved 60%
Rejected 40%

Unlike the Seattle/King County-only races, the statewide ones will change through the night because of other counties, so we’ll keep updating.

P.S. If you’re interested – the presidential race in King County so far is Biden 77%, Trump 21%; statewide, it’s Biden 61%, Trump 36%.

Final hour of voting – and ballot drop-box sites are ready for a crush of procrastinators who might not show up, given this year’s early voting – 83 percent of Seattle ballots received by late today. Nonetheless, there are flaggers on the street and staffers on the sidewalk by The Junction’s drop box:

And when we stopped by before 7 pm, they were outnumbering the last-minute voters. If you still haven’t dropped off your ballot, get to your nearest drop box by 8 pm – the list is in our daily preview. King County’s first round of results are due out around 8:15 pm.

(Voter-encouragement art by Ruthi Winter and Betsy Borrow of West Seattle Beach Drive Art Studio)

Though more than three-quarters of Seattle voters have turned in their ballots, that still leaves thousands who haven’t, and if you’re among them, today’s your second-to-last day to do it. Most direct route to get it to those who will count it is to use an.official King County Elections drop box – here again are the three in West Seattle and the two closest others:

–The Junction, south side of SW Alaska between California SW and 44th SW
–High Point Library, 3411 SW Raymond
–South Seattle College, 6000 16th SW
–South Park Library, 8th Avenue S./S. Cloverdale
–White Center Library, 1409 SW 107th

Drop boxes close at 8 pm Tuesday night. If you decide to use USPS mail, your ballot must be postmarked by Tuesday.

Already sent/dropped off your ballot? Check here to be sure it’s been received/verified. Need a replacement ballot, or to register? Go to a Vote Center (none in West Seattle, but one’s on the south end of downtown). Can’t get there or have a question? 206-296-VOTE.

One other note for today/tonight so far:

WEST SEATTLE BIKE CONNECTIONS: Because of the election, this group has moved up its monthly meeting to tonight, 6:30 pm online. Attendance information is in our calendar listing.

Voting can be fun. Just ask Ellie and her boyfriend:

She sent the pic, explaining that they decided to wear their Halloween costumes to The Junction’s ballot drop box Friday. That box had collected 16,900 ballots as of the most-recent count; High Point Library, 12,454; South Seattle College, 2,188. (Here’s the full list of drop-box totals.) As for total ballots, no West Seattle breakout is available but citywide, 76.4 percent of ballots are in as of tonight; countywide, 72 percent. (Here are all those totals.) If you haven’t yet checked to be sure your ballot’s been received, do that here. If you haven’t yet voted, get to a drop box before 8 pm Tuesday!

One way to do that – be part of this election-related event tomorrow (Sunday, November 1st): At Puget Ridge Edible Park (18th/Brandon), kids will have a chance to learn about democracy and participate, by voting and joining a “parade” to the SSC ballot drop box. The day starts with a harvest festival 11 am-1 pm including kids voting on what they want to see at the park, and then the 1 pm parade – details are in our preview.

(WSB photo: West Seattle Junction ballot drop box)

As of tonight, almost 72 percent of Seattle voters have turned in their ballots. If you’re not among them, you have exactly four more days to vote. Because of the tense times in recent months, people are bracing for Election Day/Night on Tuesday in ways we haven’t seen before, and tonight we have a few notes to share:

EARLY CLOSURES TUESDAY: We’re starting to hear about some of these – for example, port terminals are closing early, along with other West Coast ports, according to the ILWU, to ensure everyone has time to get their ballots in. Here are the adjusted schedules for terminals in the Northwest Seaport Alliance (Seattle and Tacoma), including Harbor Island’s Terminal 18.

Some businesses are closing early; we noticed a sign on the Chase Bank branch in The Junction mentioning an early closure on Tuesday. If your business is closing early, let us know.

CITY PREPS: We asked the mayor’s office about city plans for possible election reaction (whether it be protests or celebrations). They indicated they’re planning a briefing on Monday, but gave us this statement:

For the last month, the Mayor’s Office has been closely coordinating with the Governor, County Executive, and City departments for a safe and secure Election Day and preparing for a range of scenarios. Our goal in the City is to ensure that all residents and business know that we will protect their sacred right to vote and ensure their vote is counted. The City’s Office of Emergency Management has been coordinating with agencies across Washington state to ensure Election Day – and potentially the days and weeks following – proceeds as smoothly as possible. At this time, OEM and City departments will be on standby should the need arise and are prepared for real-time coordination of any response with internal and external partners throughout the week of the election and beyond if needed.

As of this writing, the Seattle Police Department and partner law enforcement agencies do not have any intelligence to indicate that there any threats for Election Day or the days following. Our partners at King County Elections have not reported any threats or security issues at any ballot boxes. As such, the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department, and other law enforcement agencies have been planning for contingency purposes only in order to be prepared for a wide range of scenarios.

We will provide small business owners and residents information on how to prepare and secure their employees and customers as well as their property in recent months for any demonstrations. We will also remind property owners to be mindful of their dumpsters and carts.

‘ROCK THE BLOCK’: If you want to have a Stay Healthy Block (no through traffic) on your non-arterial street on Election Day/Night, the city is offering free permits for residents to “Rock the Block.”

DROP BOX TRAFFIC TUESDAY: We looked at this back in early October. With so many early ballot returns, this might not be as much of an issue as usual, but the county does plan to have personnel out helping ensure traffic by the drop boxes (all listed/mapped here) moves smoothly.

WATCHING THE RETURNS: If you’re planning to track the national election, the website FiveThirtyEight has a complete guide to what time voting ends in every state, and how long it might take to get full results.

During this morning’s City Council budget-review meeting, Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s proposal to add potential defenses to city misdemeanor criminal law – covered here Monday night – got about half an hour of discussion (starting at 1:46:50 in the video above). End result: At Council President Lorena González‘s request, the proposal is being pulled out of the budget process and shelved until the council gets back to regular business in about a month. González said that council staffers are already more or less maxed out on the work they can do during the intensive budget-review process, and also noted that this isn’t purely a budget matter anyway. In her initial remarks about it, Herbold said, “This is really about creating some transparency about the conditions of the lives of people who have been accused of offenses … The proposal does not require a dismissal or acquittal – it simply allows the defense.” The other councilmembers who spoke during the discussion expressed support for the concept, including González and Councilmember Andrew Lewis, a former assistant city attorney. He noted that no legislation has been drafted yet but he would expect some (unspecified) changes in the version posted by public defenders: “There’s a lot more work that needs to be done, a lot more discussion that needs to happen.” González said she supports the goals of the proposal – “I continue to believe that it’s time to stop the criminalization of poverty, addiction, and mental illness.” Though shelving the proposal until after the budget process wasn’t described during the meeting as a done deal, we confirmed with Herbold later that it is – and she adds, “Consequently, I’ll be taking the issue up in December.”

That’s another artwork by Ruthi Winter of West Seattle Beach Drive Art Studio, encouraging early voting – which is still going strong. As of tonight, King County Elections has received ballots from almost 65% of Seattle voters. Countywide, it’s 59 percent. If you’ve already put your ballot in the mail or in a drop box, you can go here to see whether it’s been received and counted. If you’re using USPS Mail, even though our state requires only that the ballot be postmarked by Election Day – next Tuesday, November 3rd – early is still better. Same if you’re using a drop box, though they’re open 24 hours a day until 8 pm Tuesday – even if you’re usually a procrastinator, get your ballot in now so the one-and-only Election Night results drop can be as complete a report as possible. West Seattle’s three boxes are on the list/map here; so far, those three boxes have accounted for more than 27,000 ballots. If you’re not registered, you can do that in person up until, and even on, Election Day; one way to do it – or update your address – is at one of the Vote Centers that will open starting Saturday – closest one is the CenturyLink Event Center on the south end of downtown.

The City Council continues its budget review this week – looking at what the mayor proposed, and floating some of its own counterproposals and additions. The next step happens Tuesday night, when the council holds another public hearing (5:30 pm online). In her weekly email/online update last Friday, West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold listed 14 of the items she has suggested in the “issue identification” phase; she’s been including budget-process updates each week. Among the 14 items was this one:

Duress and Di Minimis Defense Legislation:

This bill redefines the City’s definition of duress and di minimis in the Seattle Municipal Code to reduce the use of the King County Jail in instances where a jail sentence is not appropriate. If the bill passes, the duress and di minimis defenses could be utilized for individuals who, “at the time of the offense, experience symptoms of a behavioral health disorder or a behavioral health condition.” Or when, “the defendant committed the offense with the intent of meeting a basic need the defendant was experiencing at the time of the offense.”

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The collage is by Ruthi Winter of Beach Drive Art Studio, who’s been making art to encourage early voting, and tonight we have word of another milestone – Seattle has passed 50% turnout with 10 days to go until Election Day. Tonight’s tally from King County Elections – 254,593 of 496,224 Seattle ballots already received. That includes ballots from KCE drop boxes (here’s the list/map) and USPS mail. In the drop-box counts – which lag to some degree, only updated in the morning – West Seattle’s leader is The Junction’s drop box (SW Alaska, south side, between California and 44th), with 10,648, followed by High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond) with 7,983, and South Seattle College (6000 16th SW, the illuminated signboard points you to the entrance) with 1,385.

Shawn Marie sent the photo – she’s in it with Joanne, and she explains, “She’s 85 years young, she’s had hip and knee replacements, but she hasn’t let it slow her down. Every afternoon this week she has stood for 3+ hours at the corner of Admiral Junction in West Seattle with her sign encouraging people to vote early!” And they certainly have – we checked the stats this afternoon, and as of King County Elections‘ noon update, they had received 225,017 ballots, from among Seattle’s 496,224 registered voters – almost half!

The tallies for specific ballot drop boxes lag a bit (and remember these numbers don’t include ballots sent by USPS mail, so they don’t reflect what total percentage of people here have voted so far), but as of the morning update:

West Seattle Junction – 9,752
High Point Library – 7,230
South Seattle College – 1,259
White Center Library – 4,975
South Park Library – 967

If you’re among those who have already dropped off or sent your ballot, you can go here to verify whether your ballot’s been received. If you’re still waiting to get a ballot – call KCE at 206-296-VOTE. If you haven’t voted yet, the drop boxes are mapped and listed here (and of course you can use the USPS mail too, no stamp necessary). If you haven’t registered yet – you can do it online until Monday (October 26th), or in-person after that, all the way up to Election Day (Tuesday, November 3rd).

8:59 PM: Thanks to Ron from that photo from the High Point Library ballot drop box, where he turned in his ballot today. As you know if you check WSB on the weekend, Saturday was an unusual day at the drop box in The Junction for multiple reasons, and King County Elections had other reports of very busy boxes. Even though the actual vote announcements don’t start until Election Night (November 3rd), KCE is out tonight with a count of how many ballots it had received by 6 pm: 86,156. They said over the weekend that the first five days in 2016 brought in 10,000+ (via drop boxes). Of this year’s total so far, 35,302 are from Seattle. The closest breakout we have to West Seattle is that 6,469 are from the 34th Legislative District (West Seattle, White Center, Vashon, and a bit of Burien). KC Elections updates the ballot-return numbers daily at noon and 6 pm.

HOW TO RETURN YOUR BALLOT: No stamp needed, no matter how you do it – USPS mail, as long as it’s postmarked by November 3rd; any official King County drop box (70+ around the county, including three in West Seattle, one in White Center, one in South Park, all listed/mapped here), as long as it’s in by 8 pm November 3rd.

P.S. If your ballot has not arrived yet, call 206-296-VOTE.

ADDED 8:50 AM TUESDAY: Thanks to Susan for the tip – the county offers box-by-box stats, too, updated on a different schedule (each morning), and on an apparent lag – the update for this morning only goes through Sunday. Nonetheless, by means of comparison, it shows The Junction dropbox with 4,100+ ballots in the first few days, High Point with 2,400, the new SSC box with 225.