And the next course is .... More Broccoli! But its a tastier version, smothered in cheese.
Charter Amendment No. 1 Even-Numbered Election Years for Certain County Offices. This amendment to the King County Charter will move elections for King County Executive, Director of Elections, and King County Council members to even number numbered years. Here's the logic - More people vote in even-year elections that in odd-year elections, because there are usually more big-ticket items on the ballot, like Senators, US Reps, and the occasional President. Moving the election of these offices to those years will increase the number of voters, which would is generally thought of as a good thing. Which is basically true.
The Times likes this. The Stranger likes it. I am less sanguine about it.
Here's my thinking. Even though moving to even-year elections would make my job here a tad bit easier, and reduce the guilt of people who don't vote anyway, yearly elections are incremental in nature. That is to say, you are not locked in across the board until the next major election cycle. It also creates a lot of sudden change in red-tide or blue-tide elections, where everyone (or at least a good chunk) on one side shows up. Finally, it increases the chances of those tidal elections in cases where the candidate at the highest position is so odious, the coat-tails drag everyone else down. I think it makes our voting system more vulnerable. AND those elections that are still in odd years will get even LESS attention. So I'm surprisingly a NO on this.
I know, I'm one of these crazy mad-scientist-ranked-choice-voting guys, and I'm still unsure about this one. On the other hand:
Proposition No. 1 Conservation Futures Levy, on the other hand, raises funds for urban green spaces and salmon habitats. Hate taxes, but love green space. So I'm with Approved on this one.
More later,
