About Candidates, Ballot Measures, and Races
Elections Director
Mail-in ballots have already been sent and you are being asked to vote for King County’s first elected Elections Director. The winner in this important special election will be responsible for clean, fair elections and for ensuring the county’s transition to mail-in balloting for all elections goes smoothly.
Christine Gregoire was elected Governor by 133 votes in 2004. Al Franken is on his way to the U.S. Senate with a 225-vote spread this month. They are proof positive that every vote does matter in an election. And, they are fine examples of why making sure every vote is counted and counted correctly matters to democracy—at the local, state and federal level. The 2000 presidential election, the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election and the 2008 Minnesota Senate race came down to how ballots were handled at the county level.
The election follows voter approval of Charter Amendment 1 last November. The amendment stipulated that a non-partisan head of county elections be voted on by the people.
As the 14th largest county in the nation many elections very well may ride on a King County elections office that efficient, effective and non-partisan—and perhaps more importantly an Election Director beholden to no one but the voters.
