Good evening from Clyde Hill Ele­men­tary in the heart of the 48th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict (Belle­vue, Kirk­land, Red­mond, Clyde Hill, Med­i­na, Hunts Point, Yarrow Point). Tonight, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers of the 48th have assem­bled to draw up a list of can­di­dates to suc­ceed Ross Hunter in the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, who recent­ly stepped down from his posi­tion in the Leg­is­la­ture to helm the state’s Depart­ment of Ear­ly Learning.

Due to Hunter’s depar­ture, a vacan­cy now exists for state rep­re­sen­ta­tive in the 48th. 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 King Coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (KCDCC), because the 48th falls entire­ly with­in King Coun­ty’s borders.

The WSDCC, of which I am a mem­ber, spec­i­fies in its bylaws that when a vacan­cy is declared, the coun­ty 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 for the KCDCC to rat­i­fy. 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 KCDCC State Com­mit­tee­man Javier Valdez, who is fill­ing in for KCDCC Chair Rich Erwin. Javier has wel­comed every­one to the meet­ing and is turn­ing the micro­phone over to DNC Com­mit­tee­man and par­lia­men­tar­i­an David McDon­ald to explain the rules.

7:20 PM: After hear­ing a pre­sen­ta­tion from David, 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. The cau­cus 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. PCOs may only vote for one can­di­date on each ballot.

7:25 PM: On to can­di­date nominations.

• Becky Lewis nom­i­nat­ed Patri­cia (Pat­ty) Kudererer
• Doug Dichar­ry nom­i­nat­ed Kim Allen
• Sue Boone nom­i­nat­ed San­ti­a­go Ramos
• Karen Ten­nyson nom­i­nat­ed Nick Pernisco

Act­ing Chair Javier Valdez has closed nominations.

7:50 PM: The speech­es have con­clud­ed. All thir­ty-nine precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers are present (which means we have turnout of one hun­dred per­cent!). The first bal­lots have been cast and are now being count­ed. We are in recess.

7:57 PM: Here are the results from the first round of voting:

• Pat­ty Kud­er­er: 25 votes
• Kim Allen: 8 votes
• San­ti­a­go: 6 votes
• Nick Pernisco: 0 votes

We don’t need a sec­ond bal­lot because Pat­ty Kud­er­er received an out­right majority.

On to the next round of vot­ing, for the sec­ond-ranked spot.

8:04 PM: Results from the sec­ond round of vot­ing are as follows:

• Kim Allen: 20 votes
• San­ti­a­go Ramos: 14 votes
• Nick Pernisco: 5 votes

Kim received an out­right major­i­ty, so she will be list­ed sec­ond on the list.

On to the final vot­ing of vot­ing, for the third-ranked spot.

8:14 PM: Results from the third round of vot­ing are as follows:

• San­ti­a­go Ramos: 32 votes
• Nick Pernisco: 6 votes

San­ti­a­go received an out­right major­i­ty, so he will be list­ed third on the list.

And with that, we’re done with the spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing caucus!

8:16 PM: Javier Valdez just called to order a spe­cial meet­ing of the King Coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (KCDCC) exec­u­tive board. A quo­rum was present. The only item of busi­ness was the rat­i­fi­ca­tion of the results of the spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus. This was unan­i­mous­ly agreed to, and the meet­ing was sub­se­quent­ly adjourned. The names of Pat­ty Kud­er­er, Kim Allen, and San­ti­a­go Ramos will be trans­mit­ted for the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for consideration.