Thanks to the shift to district elections, all nine Seattle City Council seats are up for election this year, including an astounding four open seats! So you’d think voter turnout would be sky high, right? Well, not so much.
Turnout is low. Abysmally low. The most recent ballot return statistics suggests that countywide turnout could fall under 40 percent, the lowest general election turnout as far back as I’ve bothered to look.
That’s just awful. And Seattle proper isn’t faring much, tracking toward below 45 percent turnout compared to 52 percent in 2013. So much for district elections generating renewed interest in city council races.
So what does that mean for tonight’s results? I’m not exactly sure. It could mean that voters are just voting really late, and we’ll see a surge of ballots pour in today and tomorrow. Or, since the most reliable voters tend to also be the most conservative, it could be bad news for lefty candidates across the board. (Well, every lefty but Kshama Sawant: D3 is a turnout outlier tracking toward 50 percent thanks to her impressive GOTV efforts.)
One thing I do know is that with “too close to call” stretching toward the 8-point range after Sawant’s 2013 late-ballot comeback, several races will be left officially undecided after tonight’s ballot drop—probably D1, D4, and both Honest Elections and Let’s Move Seattle. Maybe even D8 and D2.
So stay tuned for a week or so of wonky election results analysis.
D2? Huh. I thought Harrell was only a touch behind OBrien and Bagshaw in his likely voteshare. (I didn’t even bother to develop an opinion about whether his opponent would be an improvement or not, I assumed it wasn’t worth the energy.)
southpaw @nycsouthpaw
Kentucky gonna Kentucky. http://www.elections.jefferson.....r-Info.pdf … pic.twitter.com/8cPqN9SgX5
Retweeted by Goldy
Hey, Kentucky had plenty of help.
Kentucky Health Cooperative going out of business; 51,000 insurance customers affected
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/1.....rylink=cpy
Obamacare helped flip another governor’s mansion from blue to red.
CNN projects Republican Matt Bevin, a tea party favorite, wins the Kentucky governor’s race.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/03/.....index.html
Too bad, really. ‘Kynect’ was a cool name.
Yeah, that Kim Davis.
Joe Sonka @joesonka 1m1 minute ago
With 88% in, the AP calls the constable race for Kim Davis.
5:40 PM – 3 Nov 2015
OTOH, not a complete loss for KY Dems tonite.
Joe Sonka @joesonka 1m1 minute ago
Nevermind, AP calls SoS race for Grimes. #kyelect
Another interesting KY tidbit:
LOUISVILLE, Ky (WHAS11) — Matt Bevin is running for governor of Kentucky and with him is a woman that could make Kentucky history.
Jenean Hampton of Bowling Green was chosen by Bevin to be his running mate as he makes a move to become Kentucky’s new governor.
If Bevin wins, Hampton would become Kentucky’s first African-American to be elected to any statewide office. While Bevin says that they represent the Republican face of Kentucky, Hampton has said that only the results truly matter.
http://www.whas11.com/story/ne...../23925219/
What’s the female equivalent of Uncle Tom, anyway?
@3 Who’s “that” Kim Davis? Kim Davis, Rowan County clerk (not constable), isn’t up for election until 2018.
@6
I stand corrected. Wondered. Checked, but apparently not well enough. Thanks.
I wouldn’t go by the 8 percent that Sawant made up after election night in 2013. That was a city-wide race. With districts, and far fewer voters, it takes fewer votes to make up much larger gaps in percentage. Any district campaign with a lot of late momentum (as Sawant had two years ago) and less than 15% behind tonight would be foolish to concede before seeing tomorrow’s numbers.
@8 You’re welcome.