Some candidates for County Council failed to vote a few times themselves

Published 5:19 pm Monday, October 11, 2010

EVERETT — On a trip to Cascade High School last week, Snohomish County Council candidate Bob Meador stressed to students the importance of voting.

It’s a habit that Meador, a retired Lynnwood fire chief, said he’s kept ever since 1964, when he cast his ballot for conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.

“One of the tenets I was trying to reinforce was being a good citizen,” said Meador, a Republican running against Democratic incumbent Dave Gossett in the 4th District. “I’ve always been a strong voter, ever since college days, and my wife and my two children (are, too).”

Snohomish County voting records since 2000 show that Meador has followed his own advice: He’s cast a vote on every tax levy, local political race or national contest that has come up — 27 times in all.

He isn’t alone.

Gossett, his opponent for the suburban south county seat, also has an unblemished record at the polls since 2000. So does John Koster, the Republican councilman defending the northern 1st District seat in the Nov. 3 general election.

“I think that it’s important that elected officials vote in elections,” Gossett said. “I don’t think it’s a vital issue.”

The rest of the field had missed elections, to varying degrees. No candidate in this year’s County Council field skipped a general election.

The number of possible elections differs for each candidate because the number of junior taxing districts and local contests depend on where they live.

The county went to all-mail ballots in 2006. Before that, voters had to go in person or request an absentee ballot in advance.

Republican Steve Dana, who is challenging incumbent Democrat Dave Somers in the eastern 5th District, missed the most — seven out of 32 elections.

All but one of Dana’s missed votes were on levy, tax or bond increases. He also missed last year’s presidential primary. Some people sat out the presidential primary because it required declaring party affiliation and the parties also had the discretion of whether to use the vote in choosing their nominee. Dana couldn’t say for sure whether either of those factors caused him to abstain.

Dana cited strategic reasons for not voting on money issues if you don’t want them to pass, Dana said. Some bond and levies require a minimum turnout.

“There are times when not voting is more powerful than the vote,” he said.

Also, three of times he didn’t vote were in 2002, a period when Dana said he was recovering from gastric-bypass surgery.

His opponent wouldn’t criticize his voting history.

“Steve’s record shows he’s participating regularly and I don’t hold that against him,” Somers said. “A lot of people don’t vote at all.”

Somers missed three of 27 chances to vote since 2000. He remembered being angry with himself in 2004 because it slipped his mind to mail his ballot for a school district levy.

“If I missed them, it was because I frankly forgot,” he said.

Koster said it’s been years since he’s passed up a chance to go to the polls.

“It’s too important,” he said.

He has tried to instill that conviction in his four grown children, who all live in his district.

“I get four votes,” he said.

His challenger, Democrat Ellen Hiatt Watson, missed the second most elections among the candidates — five — but those occurred during a shorter time span. Her voting record goes back to 2003, when she moved back to Snohomish County, where she grew up, from Whidbey Island.

Since then, she’s been eligible to vote in 19 elections.

“No, I don’t have a specific reason for any of them,” Watson said. “Like most folks. Do I do my best to vote? Yes. Have I missed a few? Probably.”

One of the missed elections was the 2005 primary for the 1st Council District — the position for which she’s now running.

Watson admitted that at the time, she wasn’t as tuned in to county politics. Her political activism started soon afterward, when she learned of plans for large housing developments that she and her neighbors felt would destroy the rural character of northern parts of the county.

She also said she believes it’s better to sit out an election if she hasn’t had time to study the issues or the candidates.

“Better to be an educated voter than an ignorant one,” she said. “I think there are a lot of folks like that.”

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.