Good evening from Fed­er­al Way. I’m here at the head­quar­ters of the Wash­ing­ton Edu­ca­tion Asso­ci­a­tion, where the Demo­c­ra­t­ic precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers of the 30th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict are gath­ered to draw up a list of can­di­dates to suc­ceed the late Roger Free­man. First elect­ed to the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives in 2012, Free­man was in the final days of the cam­paign for a sec­ond term when he trag­i­cal­ly suc­cumbed to colon cancer.

Because Free­man went on to win the elec­tion posthu­mous­ly, a vacan­cy now exists for state rep­re­sen­ta­tive in the 30th. The Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion stip­u­lates that the process for fill­ing a Demo­c­ra­t­ic leg­isla­tive vacan­cy begins with the nam­ing of three can­di­dates from the same dis­trict and of the same par­ty by the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Committee.

The WSDCC, of which I am a mem­ber, spec­i­fies in its bylaws that when a vacan­cy is declared, the state par­ty chair shall call a spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus of precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers from that dis­trict for the pur­pose of draw­ing up a list of three names to rec­om­mend to the WSDCC for its consideration.

That’s what’s hap­pen­ing tonight. I will be updat­ing this post at peri­od­ic inter­vals to sum­ma­rize the pro­ceed­ings that are tak­ing place.

7:07 PM: The meet­ing has been called to order by State Par­ty Sec­re­tary and NPI Advi­so­ry Coun­cil mem­ber Rob Dolin.

7:15 PM: Rob has wel­comed every­one to the meet­ing; the first item of busi­ness was a par­lia­men­tary inquiry as to whether the agen­da for the nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus could be amend­ed. Rob ruled it could not be amend­ed because the cau­cus was a spe­cial meet­ing called by the state par­ty, and not the 30th Dis­trict Democ­rats. His deci­sion was appealed and sus­tained on appeal.

7:20 PM: Rob has fin­ished read­ing a let­ter penned by State Par­ty Chair Jax­on Ravens wel­com­ing the PCOs to the caucus.

7:38 PM: The cau­cus has just decid­ed what method of vot­ing to use in draw­ing up the list of three names. The state par­ty offered two dif­fer­ent vot­ing meth­ods. PCO Kei­th Tyler rose to pro­pose an alter­na­tive method of vot­ing, which Rob ruled out of order. Kei­th appealed the rul­ing, but Rob’s deci­sion was upheld. The cau­cus then opt­ed to use the first pro­posed method of vot­ing, which will con­sist of a set of three elec­tions… one for the first spot on the list, anoth­er for the sec­ond spot on the list, and still anoth­er for the third spot.

7:42 PM: On to can­di­date nominations.

• Michael Kun has nom­i­nat­ed Richard Champion
• Jodi Rik­er-Yap has nom­i­nat­ed Hope Elder
• Wal­ter Brooks has nom­i­nat­ed Roger Flygare
• Gin­ny Leach has nom­i­nat­ed Car­ol Gregory
• Karen Back­man has nom­i­nat­ed Shari Song
• Rose Osh­erin Edwards has nom­i­nat­ed herself

30th LD Chair Tim Burns has moved to close nom­i­na­tions. Motion carries.

7:50 PM: The cau­cus has vot­ed to recess for fif­teen min­utes to allow PCOs to min­gle with the can­di­dates or vis­it the washroom.

8:08 PM: We’re returned from recess. We’re mov­ing on to can­di­date speech­es. Can­di­dates will speak in the order that they were nom­i­nat­ed. Each can­di­date and their sup­port­ers will have five min­utes to speak, so we’ll have a half hour’s worth of speec­i­fy­ing here tonight. Then we’ll pro­ceed to voting.

8:46 PM: The speech­es have con­clud­ed. There are twen­ty-nine precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers present and able to vote (which is a good turnout). The first bal­lots have been cast and are now being counted.

8:54 PM: Here are the results from the first round of voting:

• Richard Cham­pi­on: 9
• Hope Elder: 1
• Roger Fly­gare: 7
• Car­ol Gre­go­ry: 8
• Shari Song: 4
• Rose Osh­erin Edwards: 0

(Total: 29)

We now move to a runoff between Richard Cham­pi­on and Car­ol Gregory.

9:02 PM: Here are the results from the sec­ond round of voting:

• Richard Cham­pi­on: 14
• Car­ol Gre­go­ry: 15

(Total: 29)

Talk about close! Car­ol Gre­go­ry is the first place fin­ish­er.… by one vote.

9:09 PM: Here are the results from the third round of vot­ing (for sec­ond place):

• Richard Cham­pi­on: 17
• Roger Fly­gare: 6
• Shari Song: 6

(Total: 29)

Richard Cham­pi­on won an out­right major­i­ty and is there­fore the sec­ond place fin­ish­er. We are now into the fourth round of voting.

9:15 PM: Here are the results from the fourth round of vot­ing (for third place):

• Roger Fly­gare: 10
• Shari Song: 14
• Hope Elder: 2
• Rose Osh­erin Edwards: 2

(Total: 28)

There will be one final vote… a runoff between Roger Fly­gare and Shari Song.

9:24 PM: Here are the results from the fifth/final found of vot­ing (for third place):

• Roger Fly­gare: 11
• Shari Song: 18

(Total: 29)

Shari Song won an out­right major­i­ty and will be the third name on the list.

9:28 PM: The spe­cial cau­cus is adjourned. The names of Car­ol Gre­go­ry, Richard Cham­pi­on, and Shari Song will be rec­om­mend­ed to the WSDCC for trans­mis­sion to the Pierce and King Coun­ty Councils.