Washington has some quirks to its election system. First, we have a top-two primary. You can vote for anyone regardless of party affiliation. Two Democrats or two Republicans may face off in the general election. Then there are some races where someone from the fringes manages to make it out of the primary. Second, all voting is done by mail. People return their ballots via mail or at official drop boxes. The ballots need to be postmarked by Election Day to be counted. We won’t have the official results until later in the month; however, some results are clear from the first two batches of counted ballots. As examples:
The three candidates for the Bothell City Council who are not in the clutches of developers are all leading by wide margins. As the mayor is selected by the City Council from its ranks, the current mayor is probably not going to serve another term.
A perennial single-issue candidate is about 70 percentage points behind his opponent in a Port Commission race.
The city of Aberdeen, better known as the hometown of grunge rock idol Kurt Cobain, elected a 23-year-old as its mayor.
The town of Fircrest, the last dry town in Washington, overwhelmingly voted to allow restaurants to serve alcoholic beverages.
The Secretary of State’s office will release more vote totals daily until all of the votes are counted. Tight races at that point will go to recounts. Reversals of fortune in the above races are unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Stay tuned.
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