PRE-K PARTY BABY PASSES OUT
9:39 PM

The pre-K party baby is now an official Drunk of the Week™! Congratulations!!!!
  • SECB
  • The pre-K party baby is now an official Drunk of the Week™! Congratulations!!!! Good night, Seattle!


OUR OWN PRIVATE MONORAIL PARTY
9:39 PM

So, the SECB was not invited to the Monorail party and we have no idea why, but it's okay because their party is probably short and a waste like the actual Monorail. The SECB does not miss an opportunity to party though, so since we're not allowed at the Monorail party, we brought the party to the Monorail.

All the SECBs friends are here!
  • All the SECB's friends are here!

The SECB was surprised at how many people still ride the Monorail even in the evening. (And even on a night when the measure to study building more Monorail lines is going down hard, 80 to 20!) There were a handful of tourists boarding, but one person couldn't get on because he didn't have cash—much to the chagrin of his friends. They pleaded with the ticket cashier because he was paying for drinks that night, but nope, the ticket cashier runs the Monorail with an iron fist. Looks like your friend is walking.

But if you think about it, Seattle Center is a lot like our version of Disney World. Both are frequented by tourists and are serviced by a Monorail with few stops. But unlike Disney, the Seattle Center is completely devoid of joy. Ride the Monorail and arrive at the unhappiest place on Earth. But hey, at least there's food at this party!

There were a few chips left in this bag and the SECB ate some because we have no shame.
  • There were a few chips left in this bag and the SECB ate some because we have no shame.


OH, BY THE WAY: REPUBLICANS TOOK OVER THE US SENATE
9:35 PM

Photos of Republicans partying are always the saddest.


MAYOR MURRAY CALLS TIM BURGESS "THE GODFATHER OF PRE-K"
9:21 PM

burgessbaby.png
  • SECB
Tim Burgess and this pro-universal-pre-K baby are totally buds now. They've canceled their rap battle, and instead have decided to get cracking on stopping global warming. The baby is a political genius. Asked for his immediate reaction to the pre-K results, Burgess says "It's great! 67.2! Stunning.” The baby says nothing, just signals for another drink.

Meanwhile, Mayor Ed Murray just arrived, glowing with triumph, and stepped to the podium to call this a "historic night" in Seattle. "I know lots of people said we wouldn't know the results tonight," he went on, "but I'm gonna declare victory." He added that "we wouldn't have been able to do this if we hadn't done it 'the Seattle way,' by bringing progressives together"—which is kinda funny, because actually this preschool measure was a huge battle within the progressive community, since city politicians put their pre-K measure on the ballot in opposition to another measure (1A), funded by unions, that would've increased the pay and centralized training for preschool and child-care workers. Hmmm.

Thats Estela Ortega at the podium, executive director of El Centro de la Raza, leading the crowd in cheers of Viva! Mayor Murray and Tim Burgess are behind her.
  • That's Estela Ortega at the podium, executive director of El Centro de la Raza, leading the crowd in cheers of "Viva!" Mayor Murray and Tim Burgess are behind her.

No matter, everyone here is psyched! Murray called Burgess a "dreamer" and "the godfather of pre-K," so Burgess came up to the mic and told Seattle: "You, tonight, invested in the future of our children," and talked about how this is a step toward universal pre-K in the city. Which is a major, major, major victory for kids, especially low- and middle-income kids. High five, Sea-town.


JESS SPEAR CAUSES THE STRANGER'S EARS TO BURN
9:10 PM

Heres Jess Spear probably in the middle of saying something mean about us.
  • Here's Jess Spear, probably in the middle of saying something mean about us.

The SECB was in the room for the Jess Spear primary night party earlier this year, and it was a bad scene. When the numbers showed catastrophically low results for Spear, it was like someone walked in the party and personally smashed everyone in the mouth with an aluminum softball bat. People wandered off into the night with stunned looks on their faces. Despite the very low numbers we're seeing (16 percent has to be a bed-shittingly bad number by anyone's accounting) tonight's election night party at the Spear campaign doesn't resemble that awful summer evening at all. Nobody was surprised to lose tonight, it seems, and they're still here to party.

Spear's political director, Phillip Locker, set the stage for the bad returns by telling the audience "the initial results have come in and the number one thing they show is that voters are not happy about Frank Chopp and the political establishment. There is a record low turnout." He admitted that Spear did not meet their highest expectations, but he said that every loss is met with an upsurge of support: in 2010, Republicans launched "the tea party and they were met by Occupy." Locker theorized that Chopp was spending election night "on his luxury yacht with his Boeing executives."

Spear took the stage and admitted that the results were not what she wanted, but "I think it's really, really important that we don't feel discouraged I don't feel discouraged about this." Then, as the SECB slunk low in our seat and clickety-clacked on our keyboard, Spear said voters were "cheated by The Stranger's cheat sheet." The room rocked with boos for The Stranger, which endorsed Speaker Frank Chopp. The Stranger, Spear said, "saw [socialists and socialist candidates] as a tool to push the Democratic party to the left," not as a viable political party for the working class. "We can't rely on The Stranger," Spear said. "We need our own media outlets" that don't serve the interests of "crumb-delivering Democrats and insane Republicans." Boy, are our ears burning. If it was possible to die of stinkeye, we'd be scrawling our last will and testament on the back of this sausage-slick paper plate right about now.


WASHINGTON BECOMES THE FIRST STATE IN THE UNION TO CLOSE THE BACKGROUND CHECK LOOPHOLE BY A POPULAR VOTE
9:05 PM

Whoops and fists raised and photographers flashing at the 594 party at the Edgewater. All of these people would be happy to have their backgrounds checked if they try to buy guns.
  • JG
  • Whoops and fists raised and photographers flashing at the I-594 party at the Edgewater. All of these people will be happy to have their backgrounds checked if they try to buy guns.

Look, you could stand these people up at the gates of hell, but they won't back down. That's what song was playing—Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down"—after the sonic smoke of the cheers died down when the big screen showed the numbers. It looks good for Initiative 594, meaning it looks good for Washington State to implement background checks on gun owners regardless of where they're buying. As of this first data-drop, of more than a million votes across the state, more than 60 percent voted yes on I-594. And the secondary whoops came in when Initiative 591, which could undo some of what I-594 wants to do, showed less than 50 percent for.

Now we wait to see whether the numbers hold as more votes are tallied. But this just became a party. When an organizer finally gets up to the mic several minutes after the drop, everybody is ready to make more decibels and to do much hugging and high-fiving, and YES: "We have become the first state in the country to close the background check loophole by a vote, at the ballot, of the people." The pols "found it a lot less easy when we went to the people," he says.

Cheryl Stumbo at the middle of a very happy crowd. This movement is HERE. TO. STAY, she said.
  • JG
  • Cheryl Stumbo at the middle of a very happy crowd. "This movement is HERE. TO. STAY," she said.
"CHERYL, CHERYL, CHERYL, CHERYL." The crowd goes wild again, and with good reason again: for Cheryl Stumbo, citizen sponsor of Initiative 594. She was one of six people shot at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in 2006.

Gun safety, she says, is "totally consistent with respecting our Second Amendment rights." Her dad's a gun owner and full supporter of 594.

"We've shown," she says, "that Americans can take on an out-of-touch gun lobby, and win... We're going to continue this fight for policies that reduce crime and save lives. This movement is HERE. TO. STAY."

And now comes Bruce. "Glory Days" takes us out.


SEATTLE VOTERS AGREE TO ADD $45 MILLION IN FUNDING TO METRO BUSES
9:00 PM

Saved by the voters.
  • Saved by the voters.

You like buses? You like not being totally crowded on those buses? You like saving greenhouse gas emissions? You like less traffic? You like a modicum of mass transit in the fastest growing city in the country?

Well, you got it! With the first drop of ballots counted, Seattle voters are approving a sales tax and vehicle fee measure that would add $45 million in funding to King County Metro to strengthen bus service in Seattle. "Because of this victory, we're going to have the best bus service we've ever had," proclaimed City Council Member Tom Rasmussen (okay, not necessarily proclaimed, because Rasmussen is too damn soft-spoken to properly proclaim something). Mayor Ed Murray said Seattle just did something it hasn't been able to do in decades—expand transit. Fuck you, Olympia. We do what we want.

City Council Member Tom Rasmussen says, Because of this victory, were going to have the best bus service weve ever had.
  • City Council Member Tom Rasmussen says, "Because of this victory, we're going to have the best bus service we've ever had."

"Reliable public transit is critical for our city, and the results tonight show that Seattle recognizes this," says the Downtown Seattle Association, in a statement some flack just handed me. Savor the victory, for the moment. Now can we please fucking do something about light rail—i.e., have a lot more of it? Please? Finally? Now? Thanks.


PROP 1A CAMPAIGN RELEASES VIDEO STATEMENT FROM SECRET BUNKER
8:58 PM

Hey, if you're not gonna throw a party, and you're gonna lose, then why not pre-record a video statement, toss it out to the press on election night, and then head back into the bunker for a nightcap and some well-earned rest?


BIG WINS FOR CHOPP, KONDO, AND SHADID
8:56 PM

Frank Chopp is beating Jess Spear by nearly 67 points:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.20.21_PM.png

Seattle Municipal Court Judge C. Kimi Kondo is beating challenger Jon M. Zimmerman by more than 30 points:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.52.39_PM.png

Challenger Damon Shadid is beating longtime incumbent Seattle Municipal Court Judge Fred Bonner by more than 52 points:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.53.07_PM.png


DAMON SHADID'S PARTY ERUPTS IN CHEERING, CLAPPING, AND "OH MY GOD"S
8:49 PM

Newly elected Seattle municipal court judge Damon Shadid, on the right. Thats his friend and colleague Omar Nur on the left.
  • Newly elected Seattle municipal court judge Damon Shadid, on the right. That's his friend and colleague Omar Nur on the left.

That's the reaction to the news that Shadid beat his opponent, Judge Fred Bonner, 76-23.

Shadid got on the microphone to thank his volunteers and campaign manager. "You never know until you know," he said. "We actually got people to care about a judicial race," which elicited cheers.

Then he had a "celebratory scotch."


IT'S SO FUCKING QUIET AT THE PARTY IN SUPPORT OF SMALLER CLASS SIZES, IT'S FREAKING US OUT
8:46 PM

The webcams thermal reader is picking up almost no heat on these people.
  • The webcam's thermal reader is picking up almost no heat on these people.

Well it's been another half an hour, and things here are still virtually soundless over at YES! on 1351 headquarters. Imagine fourteen people in a conference room speaking at a volume between a mutter and whisper, and you've got a pretty good idea of the aural landscape in the Adams room of the Hilton right now. You might even say that this is the sound of a very reasonably sized classroom. Almost too reasonably sized, actually. Someone just said, "Why are we whispering?" Everyone had a brief laugh and then went back to whispering. The people from KOMO look bored out of their minds. Their cameras want blood and tears. Apparently there's a party with wine happening in a suite upstairs. The SECB requested a quick look at this party and maybe a modestly sized glass of wine. The SECB received a silent head-shake coupled with a polite, sympathetic smile.


MAYORAL CAPTION CONTEST!!
8:38 PM

This photo has not been doctored. He really is doing that with his mouth, and holding his hand like that, with nothing in it.
  • This photo has not been doctored. He really is doing that with his mouth, and holding his hand like that, with nothing in it.


PUBLIC PRESCHOOL IN SEATTLE IS WINNING BIG
8:28 PM

party_people.png
  • SECB
Okay, now the preschool party is really BUMPIN'. They're passing out a bunch of tiny sandwiches—grilled cheese and pulled pork!—and if this party doesn't end with either Tim Burgess (or that party baby) rapping, we're gonna be hella disappointed. The party is packed!

Wait—whoa! They just announced the results, and Prop 1B is winning, and by serious margins. THE CROWD GOES WILD!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! I can see Tim Burgess planning his celebratory rap battle with that baby already! Everyone's freaking out about the margin here. The first question, which complicatedly is whether either of the two preschool measures should be enacted at all, is going 65-35 percent "yes." That's the first hurdle. In the second question, which is which of the two measures should be enacted, Prop 1B is winning 67–33 percent.


GUN CONTROL IS PASSING! SO IS UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL IN SEATTLE, AND METRO FUNDING!
8:20 PM

Initiative 594, which would close the gun show loophole, is passing statewide:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.40.38_PM.png

Initiative 591, which would thwart the closing of the gun show loophole, is failing statewide:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.41.25_PM.png

Initiative 1351, which would mandate smaller class sizes, is narrowly failing statewide:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.42.33_PM.png

Seattle Prop. 1B, which would create a universal preschool pilot program, is passing:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.21.33_PM.png

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.21.43_PM.png

Seattle's Metro-funding measure is also passing:

Screen_Shot_2014-11-04_at_8.22.03_PM.png


THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE AT THE I-594 PARTY THAT SURELY GUN BUYERS WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH BACKGROUND CHECKS AFTER THIS... RIGHT?
8:12 PM

Its jam-packed—and the stakes feel high—up in here at the Initiative 594 party at the Edgewater.
  • JG
  • It's jam-packed—and the stakes feel high—up in here at the Initiative 594 party at the Edgewater.

How many people will fit into the Edgewater's chandeliered fourth-floor conference room where the Initiative 594 party is happening? "Uh, not many more," a spokesman said.

It is seriously packed. The mayor is here. The governor is here. People are not here for the drinks and hors d'oeuvres. They're here because they really do want to see background checks required for gun buyers. (You would like to know why? Oh, here is why.)

Just wandering around talking to people, it seemed like everybody had a personal story to tell. A daughter's best friend was at Seattle Pacific University during last year's shooting. A school nurse was pushed over the edge by the prospect of the six-year-olds she knows going through Sandyhook.

There are many, many youth here. Jessie Pippin, left, goes to Center House high school, where a kid recently brought an explosive to class. If a younger generation wants this to happen, how much longer is it going to take?
  • JG
  • There are many, many youth here. Jessie Pippin, left, goes to Center House high school, where a kid recently brought an explosive to class. If a younger generation wants this to happen, how much longer is it going to take?
"I'm a senior at Nathan Hale High School, and I was home alone sick the day of the Cafe Racer shooting, and I live a block away," Anova Nurius, 17, told us. "I heard the gunshots through my window."

It seems like everybody here under 30—and plenty of people here are under 30—has been in lockdown in school at least once, if not multiple times. Hodan Hassan, 24, experienced it three or four times at Franklin High School, and she's here to help make things safer for the people who are shot most often, she said: women of color, and kids of color.

Cebrina Martin, now 21, still remembers hiding from a gunman in her first-grade classroom. The shooter was in a nearby office building; he'd been fired and came back angry and armed.

Jessie Pippin, 16, is here because of a more general culture of violence: "A few Mondays ago," she said, a kid brought a molotov cocktail to her school, The Center School.

We're nervous, because this might not happen.

As 594 organizers emailed earlier today, "Washington State has not traditionally been a bastion of gun sense":

The last time a gun violence prevention initiative was on the ballot it suffered a devastating defeat. In 1997, the gun lobby resoundingly defeated Initiative 676, which would have required safety training and licensing for handgun owners and required trigger locks for new handguns...

Washington State has been an NRA stronghold for decades. The NRA spends more money on Washington State political activity than in any other state in the country. In 2013, the NRA spent $68,300 in direct contributions to state legislators.

"I believe that the sanity of safety is gonna break out against gun violence tonight," Gov. Jay Inslee just said.

Sense and sanity, man. Can they win?

Note: During the typing of this post, a bearded man offered us a glossy business card that said "Ben 'Jammin'" just in case we would like to buy some "weed," and Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" played.


READY FOR VICTORY AT THE COMET
8:10 PM

WP_20141104_19_50_08_Pro.jpg
  • Ansel Herz

The Comet Tavern on Capitol Hill is filling up with bus supporters, who all seem to think, absent any organized opposition, that Transportation Benefit District Board Proposition 1 is going to pass handily. Two thirds of Seattlish, 100% of local corporation David Meinert (who donated $1,750 to the approximately $300K campaign in favor of the proposition), and an indeterminate portion of Mayor Ed Murray's staff is here. The mayor himself should be showing up shortly. Also here: Mike O'Brien and Dow Constantine.

Beau Morton, an official with the Transit Riders Union, says his members phone banked for the county-wide version of this measure that failed back in April. This time around, the response from voters they've reached has been much more positive, he says—they were already aware of the need to bolster Metro funding and ease the burden on our crowded buses. Hopefully we're not in for any rude surprises when the first results get posted.


ALL PIZZA AND SMILES
8:05 PM

Council member Mike OBrien: All pizza and smiles.
  • Council member Mike O'Brien: All pizza and smiles.

The SECB ran into Council member Mike O'Brien at Big Mario's pizza, and while our attention was pretty focused on pepperoni, we're pretty sure O'Brien told us he's all about finding "happiness" tonight. Which is the most Mike O'Brien thing that Mike O'Brien could possibly say.

In search of happiness, he's avoiding the Prop 1B party around the corner from Big Mario's at Soul Repair (too much acrimony in that whole 1A vs. 1B thing) and is heading instead to the Comet, where he hopes to find bliss at the Metro-funding Prop. 1 party. Good luck, man.


THE COZY SOCIALIST UPRISING IN MADISON VALLEY
7:50 PM

Jess Spear is happy she got Frank Chopp to talk like a liberal.
  • Jess Spear is happy she got Frank Chopp to talk like a liberal.

The atmosphere at the Jess Spear party is cozy and familial, with a bunch of kids running about, trays full of vegetables, sausages, and rice free for the taking, and a possible Knute Berger sighting. (You never forget the day you spot your first wild Mossback.) We're all crammed into the delightful Harbour [sic] Pointe [sic] Coffeehouse, in a neighborhood owners of the Pointe [sic] probably refer to as Madisounne Parke. Those of you looking for easy socialist jokes out of the SECB tonight are going to be disappointed. The room doesn't smell like body odor, nobody's sporting gauge-widened earlobe flaps or toe shoes, and the mood is positive and not at all angry.

Jess Spear just arrived, and it sounds to the SECB like she's being realistic about her chances. Spear tells us that no matter how the results land, she's proud that she's gotten Speaker Chopp on the record as wanting to lift the ban on rent control. She's pleased, too, that in her debate with him she managed to convince Chopp to admit that "taxing the super-wealthy" was probably a necessary step to "transfer the wealth from top to bottom." She's forced Chopp to sound more liberal, she suggests, and "now we can hold him to his word."

An industrious young girl in a blue plaid skirt is selling cookies as part of a fundraiser at the rally. One man said he would like to buy the chocolate chip cookies. She commended him for his choice. Who says these are enemies of capitalism? An overzealous older fellow chastises the SECB for typing on our laptop when there's free food sitting there, ready to eat. He coaxes us into trying some. Though the food looks a bit overdone, the stewed vegetables are happily still crisp, the rice is bland but cooked well, and the sausages are fucking delicious: Spicy, plump Polish-style pork tubes that crackle when you bite into the skin. Now that SECB has had a fat socialist sausage in our mouth, we may never turn back.


JUDICIAL CANDIDATE DAMON SHADID'S 2-YEAR-OLD BOY LEARNED HOW TO SAY "HAPPY ELECTION DAY" TODAY
7:47 PM

About a dozen people gathered at Union Bar in Hillman City for Municipal Court Judge candidate Damon Shadid, drinking beers and eating tater tots, as a confident Shadid greeted friends and his "diehard fans."

Asked how his day went, Shadid said he spent all day in court, went on a run, and hung out with his two-year-old son, who had been taught how to say "happy Election Day."

Shadid seemed incredibly relaxed. "I feel good about it," he said about the contest against incumbent Fred Bonner, who admitted to the SECB that he had probably taken his seat for granted. "I was shocked when he said that. It was probably the most intimate interview with him I had done." Regarding our endorsement for him, Shadid said, "I do agree with what The Stranger said: elected officials shouldn't feel too comfortable with their jobs...There's so much we can do...I feel like I will do that. That interview was very clear about what the alternative was."


AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A PRESCHOOL PARTY 'CAUSE A PRESCHOOL PARTY DON'T STOP (THAT'S RIGHT)
7:42 PM

preK_partAY.png
  • The preschool party is off to a low-key start. Like a no-people kind of start.

Well, the preschool party got off to a pretty low-key start. Like, a no-people kind of start. We're at the Prop 1B party*, where it's beautifully appointed but there aren't a lot of humans around. But do you know what they do have at the preschool party? BOOZES, all the kinds! We're gonna drink some whiskey—for the kids! GO PRESCHOOL WOOHOO! Here's hoping Tim Burgess gets cruuuunk!

Wait, wait, a baby is walking in the door, ready for preschool! We will be interviewing the baby later, once we've had a bit more to drink. Ta-taa!

*And if you don't know what that is already, you can't possibly care.


WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR TONIGHT (ASIDE FROM FREE DINNER AND DRINKS)
7:15 PM

Jess Spear is throwing a sausage party.
  • Jess Spear is throwing a sausage party.

There are so many "Prop 1's" on this ballot you need a decoder ring to figure it all out—and we're watching all of them closely. Will Seattle Citizen Petition No. 1, which would create a committee to study new Monorial routes, fail? (As we hope, because its backers are too unreliable to be trusted with public money.) Will Seattle Transportation Benefit District Proposition No. 1 pass, as we hope, so that Seattle will have more money to fund Metro bus service and Danny Westneat won't feel like he's living in Calcutta anymore? Will Proposition 1B, a first step toward universal preschool in Seattle, beat Proposition 1A, a first step toward who knows what exactly?

Will we be able to keep all of these numbers straight as the parties go on?

And: Will Initiative 594, which would finally close Washington's stupid gun show loophole, pass? (As polls suggest it will.) Will Initiative 591, which would keep Washington's stupid gun show loophole open, pass too? (Because some voters are just that stupid, and also this ballot is kinda confusing.)

Also: Will the House Speaker Frank Chopp's margin of victory over Socialist challenger Jess Spear be large enough to justify his audacious, disrespectful-of-the-SECB's-needs decision not to even hold a victory party?

Time will tell. The first—and only—results of the night arrive in one hour. In the meantime, SECB is eating sausages at Jess Spear's party. Putting sausages in our mouth is something we're pretty good at.


TONIGHT'S ELECTION COVERAGE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY HARD CIDER AND WHOEVER LOADS THE LYRICS INTO THE KARAOKE MACHINE AT ROCKBOX
6:47 PM

Screen_shot_2014-11-04_at_6.50.59_PM.png

The Stranger Election Control Board prepares for a night of election coverage the way any respectable news organization would: By guzzling hard cider at Rockbox while sing-shrieking "I Think We're Alone Now," "Don't Stop Believing," and "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." ****IMPORTANT CIVIC ANNOUNCEMENT**** Get up from wherever you are, right now, this moment, go to Rockbox, and queue up the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." You may think you know the words to the Frankie Valli song, but you do not. Not the way the song goes at Rockbox. Where the lyrics are supposed to say "don't bring me down, I pray," the lyrics at Rockbox say, "Don't bring me down on prick." Yes, that's right. Twice. Take a bunch of coworkers with you. Why not? ****END OF IMPORTANT CIVIC ANNOUNCEMENT****