Exhortations are everywhere – “vote!” The deadline is still just under two full days away as of this writing, so you’re still voting “early” if you get your ballot into a drop box by Monday night. West Seattle has four, including one to which this lit-up sign points:
That’s the south entrance at South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor), and if you drive, ride, walk, or run up the driveway, it’ll take you right to the drop box. The locations of every official box in King County are on the map you’ll find here, including the Junction, Morgan, and High Point boxes, plus nearby ones in White Center and South Park. All are open until 8 pm Tuesday – but if you’re not in line for one (assuming there’s a line) by 8 pm, you’ll be out of luck. And using the U.S. Mail this late is dicey, because it must be postmarked by Tuesday. You could try getting it hand-canceled during the hours a post office is open, but both close earlier than drop boxes (Junction hours here, Westwood hours here)
And of course, before you turn in your ballot, you have to mark it. We published our interviews with the candidates in the two contested local races this past week:
–King County Council District 8: Teresa Mosqueda here, Nick Duda here
–State House 34th District Position 2: Joe Fitzgibbon here, Mary Anito here
There’s one local ballot measure – the Seattle Transit Measure, a renewal and expansion that would double the current sales tax (from .15% to .3%) collected for the city to buy more transit service than the county otherwise would provide, and also to support city costs related to Sound Transit light rail expansion. The pro/con arguments and other info are linked from this page. The mayor proposed it back in June; here’s what we reported at the time.
The five statewide races with arguably the most potential impact – yet the least discussion – are those for five of the Washington State Supreme Court‘s nine seats; if you need to do last-minute research to decide, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters put together this guide, with biographies and video interviews.
Again, 8 pm Tuesday (November 3) is when the voting ends and the vote-counting begins. And after you vote, watch for word your ballot has been counted and your signature verified – if they detect a problem, they’ll try to reach you with the contact info you provide.