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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Election McGinn's Lead Shrinks

Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 4:30 PM

King County Elections has posted the results of about 30,000 additional Seattle ballots. Mike McGinn was leading by 910 votes last night; he's now only 462 votes ahead of Joe Mallahan.

Mayor

Mike McGinn 52,238 49.77%

Joe Mallahan 51,776 49.33%

Write-in 946 0.90%

It bears mentioning that McGinn was in the lead on the primary election night in August, and then Mallahan surged past McGinn by 221 votes the day after. But a later push of returns let McGinn regain the lead by that Friday. So the trend could just as easily reverse in tomorrow's batch of returns.

Referendum 71

Its approval rating has grown to a nearly four-point margin (double its numbers from last night). R-71 is leading 51.82 % approve to 48.18 % reject. More here.

Initiative 1033

It's now losing by a 12-point margin—56.04 % voting no to 43.96 % voting yes.

Meanwhile, Constantine is leading Hutchinson, who has yet to concede, by a 15 point margin.

County Executive

Susan Hutchison 125,607 42.26%

Dow Constantine 171,006 57.53%

Write-in 621 0.21%

Assessor

Graham Albertini 52192 20.91%

Gene Lux 12,175 4.88%

Lloyd Hara 82,864 33.20%

Bob Rosenberger 72,525 29.06%

Bob Blanchard 29,041 11.63%

Write-in 806 0.32%

City Attorney

Pete Holmes 57,251 62.17%

Tom Carr 34,661 37.64%

Write-in 174 0.19%

Council Position No. 2

Richard Conlin 70,207 76.20%

David Ginsberg 21,688 23.54%

Write-in 238 0.26%

Council Position No. 4

Sally Bagshaw 64,324 69.08%

David Bloom 28,587 30.70%

Write-in 206 0.22%

Council Position No. 6

Nick Licata 54,740 56.92%

Jessie Israel 41,218 42.86%

Write-in 213 0.22%

Council Position No. 8

Mike O'Brien 53,365 57.10%

Robert Rosencrantz 39,894 42.68%

Write-in 208 0.22%

Proposition No. 1

YES 67,076 64.20%

NO 37,400 35.80%

All the King County election results are here; state results for I-1033 and R-71 are here.

Comments (36) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

My heart just about skipped a beat when I saw those numbers.
It's close, but I'm happy we're still in the lead.

Posted by Enigma

on November 4, 2009 at 4:32 PM

You think we'll have a new mayor announced before Christmas?

Posted by Nic in Greenlake on November 4, 2009 at 4:34 PM

Mallahan's gonna lose by a single vote; the one he forgot to cast.

Posted by DOUG.

on November 4, 2009 at 4:34 PM

holy crap. i hate having to wait. good luck mcginn

Posted by derrickito on November 4, 2009 at 4:35 PM

FWIW, King county still has 129k votes;
King 1,079,842 308,650 28.58% 11/4
4:30 PM 11/5
4:30 PM 129,000
from http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/VoterTu…

Posted by laviddichterman on November 4, 2009 at 4:35 PM

Check your vote status! My vote hasn't been counted because of a signature issue and I had to sign an affidavit and send it back in. You can track your ballot at: https://info.kingcounty.gov/elections/ma…

Posted by ScreenName on November 4, 2009 at 4:37 PM

It's really unclear what the estimated number of to-be-processed Seattle ballots is. Can anyone help?

They only counted 20K seattle ballots in the past 20 or so hours?

Posted by stinkbug on November 4, 2009 at 4:38 PM

I'm glad to see R 71 still in the lead.

Posted by kim in portland

on November 4, 2009 at 4:39 PM

@5 - prolly more than that, those are just the ballots they will be reporting tomorrow. i imagine there will be a few more days with ballots cause 40% would be a crappy turnout.

Posted by beef on November 4, 2009 at 4:40 PM

@6 I checked mine, and it says my signature's been verified, but the ballot hasn't been counted yet.
I wonder if it's because I forgot the security envelope.

Posted by Enigma

on November 4, 2009 at 4:42 PM

Hutchison's deficit grew. She's gotta concede, now.

On live TV, preferably.

Posted by Baconcat on November 4, 2009 at 4:42 PM

Glad to see approve R-71 widen its lead, as was expected.

The mayoral race is going to be a photo finish. Good luck, McGinn.

Posted by Mattini on November 4, 2009 at 4:43 PM

@9: No, that's the total number estimated to be processed, not the number they expect to have done by tomorrow. Go look at the chart.

Posted by stinkbug on November 4, 2009 at 4:44 PM

@10, it's a multi-step process. they've verified the signature but haven't opened the security envelope yet to process the ballot. For what it's worth, I put it in the mail on Friday, so I didn't expect it to be counted yet.

"Your signature was verified and you will be credited with voting.

Your returned ballot packet will soon be opened and your ballot will be prepared for counting."

Posted by serotonein on November 4, 2009 at 4:51 PM

I dropped my ballot and my wife's ballot in one of those King County boxes on Monday. According to that website, they haven't been counted yet, so there's two more McGinn votes that are still waiting to be counted.

Posted by Nic in Greenlake on November 4, 2009 at 4:53 PM

#10: They don't care about the security envelope, that's just for no-peeking purposes.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/voti…

Posted by http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/voting/FAQ.aspx on November 4, 2009 at 4:53 PM

@14 and 16
I read over the process and I know what the security envelope is for. I just know I dropped my ballot in the mail on the 19th, so I kinda expected it to be counted. No matter, I know that's one more McGinn vote not on the board yet.

Posted by Enigma

on November 4, 2009 at 4:58 PM

I voted in the downtown drop box the day after I got my ballot but King County hasn't opened it and counted the vote yet, just verified my signature. Erm...

Posted by Westlake, son! on November 4, 2009 at 5:01 PM

I don't think that page will ever say "we've counted your vote!" because once you're marked as having voted and the ballot is separated from the signature envelope, there isn't a way to link the ballot and the voter.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that would be the only way they could guarantee a secret ballot.

Posted by Mr John on November 4, 2009 at 5:10 PM

Anyone getting the sense that Vote-By Mail is making things much worse?

Posted by thomaspillard on November 4, 2009 at 5:11 PM

@20: No. They just need to tweak the rules to make it like some other places. Ballots need to be postmarked by the Saturday before election day or received in the mail by election day or dropped in a drop box by election day.

Posted by stinkbug on November 4, 2009 at 5:20 PM

Hutchinson should demand a recount!

I just want to see her lose again.

Posted by Gus on November 4, 2009 at 5:21 PM

When Joe loses by 202 votes he's going to have only himself and his soft non-working hands to account for the loss.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on November 4, 2009 at 5:29 PM

@6 for the really really important win.

MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE WAS COUNTED.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on November 4, 2009 at 5:30 PM

Amusingly it says the ballot my son cast A WEEK AGO for McGinn hasn't been counted yet.

LOL. King County Elections for the MASSIVE FAIL.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on November 4, 2009 at 5:33 PM

LOL. They haven't even counted my ballot from THE DAY AFTER THEY MAILED THEM.

Oh man, seriously out of it.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on November 4, 2009 at 5:35 PM

Pierce and Spokane Counties are reporting more results at 6 pm.
Pierce (50K left to count) has been for us 47/52...Spokane (40K left) 36/60.
So, expect a slight dip after 6.

Posted by chic65 on November 4, 2009 at 5:35 PM

@20: "Making things worse" is maybe a bit strong. "Making things slower," sure. But democracy will function just fine without us knowing the night of the election who won. I'd rather have them be thorough and accurate than fast.

Posted by Orv on November 4, 2009 at 6:35 PM

@26, massive Will in Seattle fail, more like. They won't TELL you when your ballot is counted, because they don't know. They only know when it's received and separated from the cover envelope with your name on it.

Posted by Fnarf

on November 4, 2009 at 6:51 PM

bad database design then - which still == EPIC FAIL

Posted by Will in Seattle

on November 4, 2009 at 7:17 PM

Will in Seattle doesn't believe in the secret ballot. Nice.

Posted by Fnarf

on November 4, 2009 at 8:04 PM

I want to personally thank The Stranger for all of their work to get some more promising people into office, and for fighting off the good ol' bigots.

Where would be without the Stranger?

Thanks to all of you.

Posted by I'm Cool on November 4, 2009 at 8:32 PM

The website will never say that your ballot has been counted. It will only say that your signature has been verified. At that point, your ballot will be separated from the outer envelope and there is no longer any way to track it.

Sam Reed tried to get barcodes linked to our voter ID on ballots, but that steals a voter's privacy because a voter's choice is then logged into a database linked to the voter's identity. Not a good idea. There is currently a lawsuit against Sam Reed. The King County Council banned these privacy stealing barcodes after election integrity activists, including former Democratic Secretary of State candidate Jason Osgood, pushed the council to ban them.

Posted by Let's go back to poll voting on November 4, 2009 at 8:33 PM

I've thought about building a website where people can voluntarily publish their vote. It would be interesting to see who would do so, and what the numbers would look like compared to the counting of the Secret Ballots by the Invisible Hands.

Posted by Herces Peek on November 4, 2009 at 10:22 PM