It’s Special Election Day! Have you voted?

In many juris­dic­tions across Wash­ing­ton State, today is a spe­cial elec­tion day. While it is com­mon knowl­edge that we hold a Top Two elec­tion in August and the gen­er­al elec­tion (which is real­ly more like a runoff, thanks to Top Two) in Novem­ber of every year, state law also pro­vides for two spe­cial elec­tion win­dows: one in Feb­ru­ary, and one in April. The April spe­cial elec­tion peri­od con­cludes today.

In King Coun­ty, there are sev­er­al mea­sures on the bal­lot. Just one is coun­ty­wide — the oth­ers are con­fined either to cities or spe­cial districts.

So if you live in King Coun­ty and are reg­is­tered to vote, you got a bal­lot with at least one mea­sure on it. That’s Propo­si­tion 1, which would fund the replace­ment of the region’s aging radio net­work for first respon­ders. NPI sup­ports a “Yes” vote on this levy; more details about it are avail­able in this post.

Also on the bal­lot in King County:

• The City of Sam­mamish is ask­ing its res­i­dents, in a non­bind­ing plebiscite, whether they would like the pow­ers of ini­tia­tive and ref­er­en­dum to be added to the city char­ter. Most cities in King Coun­ty have direct democracy.
• Cit­i­zens in the Kla­hanie neigh­bor­hood in east King Cout­ny will decide whether they would like to join Sam­mamish. Present­ly, Kla­hanie is in unin­cor­po­rat­ed King Coun­ty. Sam­mamish is propos­ing to annex Kla­hanie after vot­ers there repeat­ed­ly declined to join Issaquah. Many res­i­dents of Kla­hanie have pre­vi­ous­ly expressed a pref­er­ence for Sam­mamish over Klahanie.
• A levy to pay for street resur­fac­ing, enhanced asphalt patch­ing and crack seal­ing is being con­sid­ered in the greater Cov­ing­ton area.
• South King Fire and Res­cue is seek­ing approval to issue bonds to acquire new fire­fight­ing equip­ment. To pass, this propo­si­tion must receive a 60% yes vote, and at least 40% of the vot­ers in the juris­dic­tion must participate.
• The Enum­claw School Dis­trict is also seek­ing approval to issue bonds, for school mod­ern­iza­tion. The ⁶⁰⁄₄₀ rule will be in effect for this mea­sure too.
• Vashon res­i­dents will decide whether to renew their parks levy.

Mea­sures are also on the bal­lot in oth­er coun­ties in Wash­ing­ton State.

If you were sent a bal­lot, be sure to fill out and send it back in, either through a post office, or by tak­ing it to a drop box. Don’t blow off this spe­cial elec­tion: vote and exer­cise your civic responsibilities!

We’ll have analy­sis of the results tonight after 8 PM.