City Council positions 2 and 3 will be alone on the August primary ballot in Edmonds.
That’s because they’re the only positions on the November ballot with three candidates.
Position 2 Councilman Strom Peterson and challengers Diane Buckshnis and Alvin Rutledge will vie for two spots in November, as will Position 3 incumbent Ron Wambolt and challengers Adrienne Fraley-Monillas and Lora Petso.
Position 1 Councilman Michael Plunkett and challenger Priya Cloutier, as well as all school board candidates, move directly to the general election.
Comparing turnout in city elections
Woodway and Edmonds have had the highest turnout among South Snohomish County cities in recent municipal elections.
In 2005 and 2007, when cities filled all positions in city government, 68 percent of registered voters participated in Woodway and 61 percent in Edmonds.
This compares favorably with the 58 percent in Brier, 54 percent in Mill Creek, 51 percent in Lynnwood and 49 percent in Mountlake Terrace.
Minnesota election wouldn’t happen here
Al Franken was scheduled to be sworn in as the junior senator from Minnesota on Tuesday, nearly eight months after Election Day and six months after the new Congress convened. I asked whether such a thing could happen in Washington.
A spokesman for the secretary of state said no.
That’s because Washington allows the secretary of state to certify an election while a candidate is still contesting the result.
For example, in the disputed 2004 governor’s race, the dispute went on in the courts after the secretary of state had certified the result and Gov. Christine Gregoire had been sworn in.
State law would have allowed the courts to overturn the result even after one candidate had taken office.
A protest against the state’s election system
Krist Novoselic, formerly of the band Nirvana, filed to run for Wahkiakum County clerk, using the party preference “Grange Party.”
It was a protest against the nonsense of last year that had at least 20 candidates around the state, including gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, list their party preferences as “Grand Old Party” or “GOP” rather than Republican. One candidate listed his preference as “No New Taxes Party,” another the “Salmon Yoga Party.”
Of course, there is no “No New Taxes Party,” or “Salmon Yoga Party,” and “Grand Old Party” is a nickname for the Republican Party.
Novoselic made his point and withdrew.
In January, the Legislature will consider a bill requested by Secretary of State Sam Reed that would limit party preferences to groups that have won recognition by submitting petitions with 25 signatures.
Evan Smith can be reached at entpolitics@heraldnet.com.
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