Vote 2017
Vote 2017

Today is Gen­er­al Elec­tion Day in Wash­ing­ton State and in many states across the Unit­ed States, par­tic­u­lar­ly New Jer­sey and Vir­ginia. Much is at stake.

Vot­ers in the afore­men­tioned East Coast states will be elect­ing gov­er­nors and state leg­is­la­tors, while in Wash­ing­ton State, five spe­cial elec­tions will deter­mine who con­trols the State Sen­ate through the end of 2018.

Most of Wash­ing­ton’s cities and ports are hold­ing their reg­u­lar­ly sched­uled elec­tions. Some of Wash­ing­ton’s home rule coun­ties, like King, Sno­homish, and What­com, are also hold­ing their reg­u­lar­ly sched­uled elections.

(A home rule coun­ty is a coun­ty that has adopt­ed a char­ter to gov­ern itself. Home rule coun­ties oper­ate dif­fer­ent­ly than code coun­ties, which have no charter.)

In Ore­gon, there are no can­di­dates on today’s bal­lot, but there are a few juris­dic­tions with bal­lot mea­sures, includ­ing these in Mult­nom­ah County.

Have you vot­ed yet? If you have, con­grat­u­la­tions on ful­fill­ing your civic duty. Haven’t vot­ed yet? It’s time to get that bal­lot in! You’ve only got a few hours left before time runs out to par­tic­i­pate. There’s no excuse for not voting.

You should have received your bal­lot in the mail a few weeks ago from the coun­ty you reside in. If you did not receive a bal­lot, or if you have mis­placed your bal­lot, you should call your coun­ty audi­tor or elec­tions office to obtain a pro­vi­sion­al ballot.

Don’t for­get to sign your bal­lot before putting it in a drop box or the mail. Wash­ing­to­ni­ans, locate the near­est drop box to you by going here.

If you live in Ore­gon, don’t take your bal­lot to a post office, as it’s too late to mail it. Find a drop box instead, and take your bal­lot there.

Not sure who to vote for? If you belong to or pre­fer a par­tic­u­lar polit­i­cal par­ty, you may want to con­sult their list of endorsements.

There’s also the Pro­gres­sive Vot­ers Guide main­tained by Fuse Washington.

NPI has tak­en posi­tions on the fol­low­ing statewide bal­lot mea­sures in Wash­ing­ton (we do not endorse can­di­dates for office).

Wash­ing­ton

We also urge you to vote YES on your local levies, to sup­port essen­tial pub­lic ser­vices like fire and res­cue (unless you’ve got a very good rea­son not to).

But above all…. VOTE! Then go make sure your fam­i­ly and friends have voted.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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