So the Washington State Voters' Guide (and later, the ballot) showed up in the mailbox, which for me is the opening gun of the November election. And for my neck of the woods, it is a little bit boring. At the state level, we are voting on three positions. All judgeships. All unopposed. Seattle is a hotbed right now - seven positions out of nine on the City Council are up, but since Grubb Street is not in Seattle proper, we don't get a vote.
And this is exactly what bothers me about moving elections to all-even or all-odd years. Without a "marquee" race, there is very little draw for the average voter. Already, everyone is gunning up for next year, which in addition to the Presidential Race, we are revising the entire Executive Branch of the State (Governor is retiring, everyone else is shuffling positions around). But this year? There's not going to be an overwhelming amount of voters.
But you know what is missing this time? Those horribly-written Advisory Votes. These were toothless push-polls that at best let people vent about how Olympia is raising money. Finally, after many years, they are banished. So that means we don't know where the money is? Well, no. There's a new web site that lays out the State's spending right here. Not as urgent as grabbing one piece of legislation and shoving it in your face as outrage fuel, but a good tool.
Mind you, the dearth of choice at the state level is mitigated slightly by the fact that the King County Voters' Guide has also shown up, which handle the County, City, and School Board elections. Which is good, meat and potatoes stuff, but still not the attention-grabbers you see at the State and National level.
What does that mean for the Political Desk? Mostly business as usual. I will pass through the ballot, but only make recommendations on races that are really races. So for folks who are not local, and are expecting theatre, book, and game reviews, you might want to just take the week off. The Seattle Times has their recommendations (mostly centrist-pro-business, behind a soft paywall - smooth move, guys) and the Stranger has theirs (mostly progressive, pro-renter and consumer). Fuse has a list of progressive endorsements as well, but it dovetails neatly into the Stranger's with less snark. Crosscut gets into money raised and issues here, but doesn't get outside the major metros. Talking about school board elections is pretty rare, but the Washington Educational Association has its here.
Everyone else can take a break. For those of us in our hyper-local locality, let's turn over our ballots and begin.
More later,
