Just received a copy of this from the good folks at Seattle Gay News . You can join the celebration by attending the rally in Westlake starting at noon.

Scan-091103-0013-Edit, originally uploaded by picsbysomeguy.

With Peter Holmes victorious and Susan Hutchinson dispatched and Tim Eyman chewing his mock turtle neck in defeat, Capitol Hill lovers of democracy turn to two crucial races that will continue to unfold with this afternoon's next batch of results around 4:30 PM and through the week.

Here are some links to chew on in the meantime:

• Erica Barnett from Publicola says to expect more good news for Mike McGinn this afternoon.
• The Seattle Times says R-71 comes down to Pierce County. Puyallup, Tacoma, Orting... do the right thing.
• Seattle Gay Scene crunches the numbers on R-71.
• To get you pumped up, check out Cheesecake's video of McGinn's speech at the War Room last night:

McGinn Election Night Speech from David Albright on Vimeo.

UPDATE 8:28 PM:
First batch of results are in from the King County Election site with 23.55% reported.

I-1033: Failing 56% to 44% statewide, 34% to 66% in King County

R-71: Winning 52% to 48% statewide, approved 66% to 34% in King County 

King County Executive: Constantine is winning 57% to 43%

Mayor: McGinn ahead of Mallahan 50% to 49%

City Attorney: Pete Homes ahead of Tom Carr 62% to 38%

City Council Position 2: Conlin over Ginsburg 75% to 24%

City Council Position 4: Bagshaw winning vs. Bloom 69% to 32%

City Council Position 6: Licata beating Isreal 58% to 42%

City Council Position 8: O'Brien ahead of Rosencrantz 58% to 42%

Housing Levy: Winning 63% to 37%

School District Position 5: Kay Smith-Blum over Mary Bass 64% to 25%

School District Position 7: Patu beating Chin 68% to 31%

Port of Seattle Position 3: Holland over Doud by 55% to 45%

Port of Seattle Position 4: Albro over Vekich by 57% to 43%

And the statewide totals for 1033 and R-71. Check for latest totals.

UPDATE 6:00 PM:
Heading out soon to check out the election night party circuit on the Hill. Stay tuned to this post for pictures and, if it's worthwhile, video from the night.

At 8:15 the first totals from mail ballots will be posted on this King County Election site.

Here is the schedule for results from King County Elections:
Tuesday, Nov. 3 8:15 p.m.
Mail ballots counted on election day results posted to the Web.
Wednesday, Nov. 4 4:30 p.m.
Results posted including accessible voting centers.
Thursday, Nov. 5 4:30 p.m.
Results posted
Friday, Nov. 6 4:30 p.m.
Results posted. Unofficial abstract of results as of election night, broken down by legislative district posted to the Web.

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

Original Post:
Election Day has lost a lot of its excitement with the switch to all-mail voting but we hope to bring back a little old-fashioned drama with our coverage of the day's proceedings. We'll be out and about in the streets of Capitol Hill so shout if you see something interesting -- chs@capitolhillseattle.com or @jseattle if you are a Twitter type.

We'll also be part of the scene at the election night parties on Capitol Hill. Here is a list and map of the political fun. See you out there.

As of early Tuesday morning, the county had received ballots from about a quarter of Capitol Hill area registered voters. Here's the tally for the two county districts that include parts of Capitol Hill:

• District 2: 23.5%
• District 4: 25.1%

Full King County totals can be found here.

To add to those decimal points, your mail-in ballot needs to be postmarked Tuesday the 3rd or you can drop it off at either of these drop box locations closest to Capitol Hill:

• Seattle, King County Administration Building, 500 Fourth Ave.
• Central neighborhood center, 2301 S Jackson
• Voters with disabilities: Union Station 401 S. Jackson St: 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

The drop boxes can be accessed up until 8 PM on Election Day.

Once you've sent in your ballot, check King County's ballot tracker to make sure it has been properly received.

Need some guidance? Check out the 2009 CHS Endorsements.

Vote Now!, originally uploaded by prima seadiva.

We reported last week that mayoral candidate Mike McGinn's election night party will be held at the War Room but that's not the only political party celebrating, commiserating and/or blowing off steam happening on Capitol Hill Tuesday night. Here is the rundown of election night events on the Hill courtesy of this map provided by Brian Allen:

• APPROVE 71 - 7pm Pravda, 1406 10th Ave
• 43rd DEMS - 7pm Purr Lounge, 1518 11th Ave
• HOUSING LEVY - 6pm Sole Repair, 1001 E Pike St
• MCGINN - 7pm War Room, 722 E Pike St
• GINSBERG - 7pm Cafe Metropolitan, 1701 E Olive

View 2009 Seattle Election Night Parties Map in a larger map

Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn is including a Capitol Hill stop in his last weekend of city barnstorming, according to this announcement from his campaign team. We already gave him the CHS endorsement but you can check in with McGinn on Halloween afternoon at 19th Ave's Miller Community Center. The McGinn campaign announced today it is holding its election night celebration at the War Room.

Mike McGinn to host four town halls this weekend.

"We know a lot of Seattle voters are undecided and want more information before making their choice," said McGinn.  "Seattleites take voting seriously.  We want to give everyone the ability to directly ask questions and this is an opportunity to do just that."

WHEN: 2pm, Saturday, October 31st
WHERE: Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave. E

WHEN: 10:15am, Saturday, October 31st
WHERE:  West Seattle Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 2306 42nd Ave. SW

WHEN: 12pm, Saturday, October 31st
WHERE: Northgate Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 10548 5th Ave. NE

WHEN:  3:30pm, Sunday, November 1st
WHERE:  Columbia Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 4721 Rainier Ave. S

He won our endorsement. On election night, he'll be partying in our 'hood. Mike McGinn's campaign is holding its election night party at the War Room with chow from Skillet Food, no cover and, sweet for the 'hood bloggers in the crowd, all the wi-fi you can eat. You might recall McGinn held his primary election night party at Havana. Whether this Tuesday ends as happily for the candidate will be up to you.

CHS does not condone this woman's actions. But we're also kind of tired of the Hitler thing.

A group representing several restaurants and bars in Pike/Pine are threatening City Attorney Tom Car with an ethics complaint just days before the end of the fall election. The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association sent out this release this morning detailing their plan to bring a complaint against Carr to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

The story that the release refers to as 'widely reported' is the Stranger cover piece on a reportedly confrontational meeting between city staff and Pike/Pine club owners early in October. CHS wrote about the crime trends for Pike/Pine here and asked the East Precinct commander if there was a 'crackdown' in Pike/Pine, here.

The SNMA does not include a membership list on it site but does include a mission statement: The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association (SNMA) is a coalition of music, night club, and bar interests formed to educate elected officials, civic and community leaders, and the media on the serious issues facing the music and nightlife industry in Seattle.

Ethics Complaint Levied at Tom Carr
Seattle, WA, October 27, 2009 -- The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association (SNMA) has hired attorney, John Muenster, to look into possible reta liat ion by the current City Attorney Tom Carr against SNMA members who exercised their First Amendment rights to support his opponent during the hotly contested elect ion campaign for the City Attorney's position.

The SNMA has received inform ation dat ing back to at least 2007 indicatin g th at Tom Carr has used the City Attorney's Office and th e Joint Enforcement Team to aggressively pursue legit imate Restaurant and Bar Operatorswho have made every effort to comply wi th applicable regulat ions.

As has been widely reported, on October 6th of th is year, Assistant City Attorn ey Tienney Milnor held a meet ing of Restaurant and Bar Operators where she reportedly said th at she wou ld pull liquor licenses if

things did not change. The meet ing was supposedly brought on by alleged increases in vio lent crime in t he Pike / Pine entertainment area, but review of SPDcrime data actua lly show a decrease in crime during t he months leading up to th e meet ing in that area.

The meeting on Oct 6th occurred just after a large fundraising effort by local Restaura nt and Bar Operators for the City Attorney's opponent , and right before anot her fundraiser was scheduled to occur that same week in the Pike / Pine entertainment area.

"The Members of the SNMA work with the SPD, the Fire Department and The Washington State Liquor Control Board on a daily basis. They run clean operations and don't have violations. We don't understand how, aft er years of weekly enforcement checks and a decrease in crime, the City Attorn ey's office, in the middl e of a contested elect ion, can say change or I'll pull your liqu or license and have it not be int erpreted as a polit ical message" says John Muenster, attorney for th e SNMA.

The SNMA will be seeking additional information through the Public Disclosure Request Process. The SNMA will also formally ask the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission to look into the retaliation issue.

If you were looking for surprises in the 2009 CHS endorsement process, we are sorry to disappoint. The CHS community members who participated in the polls endorsed a mostly predictable slate. And there's nothing wrong with that. We're happy keeping politics here as drama-free as possible.

Mike McGinn at Capitol Hill candidates forum (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

The endorsement roster is below -- you can view vote totals here. The endorsements represent the community opinions of around 40 CHS registered users who participated in each poll.

2009 CHS Endorsements

• Initiative Measure No. 1033: No
• Referendum Measure No. 71: Approve
• King County Charter Amendments: Yes
• County Executive: Dow Constantine
• Sheriff: Sue Rahr
• Assessor: Bob Rosenberger
• Court of Appeals Division No. 1, District No. 1, Judge Position No. 3: Anne L. Ellington
• Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No. 1: John Creighton
• Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No. 3: Rob Holland
• Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No....

You have until 9 PM tonight to add your picks to the 2009 CHS Endorsements. We're conducting an open endorsement process -- anybody with a CHS account can add their vote for candidates and issues on the ballot. Participation has been great but we'd love to have a few more voters to solidify the endorsements. We'll tally results and share totals this weekend.

In terms of geography, one of the more 'Capitol Hill issues in Wednesday's mayoral candidates debate (since our questions didn't make it on air) was the future of 520. You can watch the debate video here and read about coverage of the other issues from the debate here and here. CHS will take a quick look at what the candidates had to say about the 520 reconstruction project that is slated to expand the bridge from four to six lanes.

The question from the debate moderator: Which option for the Seattle end of the new 520 bridge do you support? McGinn made up a new plan. Mallahan said he didn't have an answer.

WSDOT

You can review the state's plans for replacing 520 here
Video simulations:

• Option A
• Option K
• Option L

These options were discussed at last week's Capitol Hill Community Council meeting. Citizens at the meeting were concerned about cost, time, and maintaining a limited number of cars in the Arboretum.

McGinn's answer during Wednesday's debate? Option McGinn. The candidate said he's choose none of the above because none of the existing options include specifics about light rail.

"What we should look at is in addition to light rail over I-90, let's run light rail over 520," McGinn said.

"I think the issue here is we need to put in light rail so we don't have congestion at either end, move a lot more people, move a lot more people more efficiently, and start building the light rail system for the future that we really need."

That would have pleased the attendees at the council meeting who are concerned about the increase in traffic from 520 pouring into Montlake and the Arboretum.

What McGinn didn't mention is this: There already is a McGinn option. At last week's community council meeting, WSDOT spokesperson Dawn Lindsey said the bridge will be engineered so it can carry rail traffic.

On the other side of the debate set, Mallahan's answer was about time.

"We in Seattle have to make a decision there because we're holding up that project," Mallahan said.

Mallahan said he didn't have an answer about which option should be selected. Mallahan also couldn't resist picking at McGinn's position on the Viaduct.

"He is pretty much anti-any road improvement or road maintenance," Mallahan said about his opponent's answer.

"He's not only opposed to the Viaduct, he's opposed to 520."

McGinn's response got the biggest laugh of the debate.

"Wow, we were just asked a question about 520 and Joe Mallahan asked about the Viaduct. I think he's turning into a one-issue candidate here," McGinn quipped.

UPDATE:
The totals are in and the CHS endorsements for the 2009 fall election are official. We'll write up the endorsements in another post but you can see the vote totals blow. Thanks for your votes, delegates.

Original Post:
This should be interesting. Each of you has been given a paper envelope. Please proceed to your favorite chair and don't open it. Inside, you won't find this Web page. That paper stuff is your real life King County ballot. Put it in a safe place.

This page is home to the 2009 fall election CHS Endorsement Polls. The goal is to give the CHS community a say in the endorsement process. Because we have registered accounts, we're one step closer to making online polls more than Web traffic popularity contests. But one step might not be enough. I've yet to run an online poll process that didn't produce hiccups, screw-ups and cheats. Expect some of each here. That's politics.

Here is how the polls work:

• Registered CHS accounts may vote in each poll once
• Polls close Friday night at 9 PM...
(more)

At stake, the nearly one-third of Seattle voters who say they are still undecided, according to the Publicola poll linked to above.

Video highlights...

In Seattle, we love to think about ourselves as progressive. Driving a Prius and recycling our garbage aren't enough. By the way, I'm the one who drives a Prius. Mike rides a bike.
-- candidate Joe Mallahan, discussing his focus on the environment at Saturday's forum

We'll have full coverage of Saturday afternoon's forum including a write-up, photos and a CHS video. In the meantime, you can catch most of the action in these videos posted by Tenacious Ventures.

Holding the Flag Originally uploaded by JennaU

CHS is powered by you. Our goal is to provide a core of news and information gathering that the community can build on, mash up and grow into something bigger than any single entity could create on its own. We're a Capitol Hill network. Happy to have you part of the fun.

In that spirit, next week we're going to try something new. As the ballots for the 2009 fall election go out in the mail, CHS will take a position on all the big city, county and statewide races -- but, of course, we're not going to do it in the old-school, we-know-better-than-you fashion.

We're going to do it with the Internet!

Next week, CHS will run a series of online polls that allow you, the CHS community, to drive the CHS endorsement process. To avoid turning this into a mercenary, Web traffic and popularity contest, we'll require endorsement voters to be registered CHS users. If you don't have an account, get yours here.

The goal in all of this is to provide a special set of inputs for the equations each of us will be formulating as we decide which candidates deserve our votes. This input -- like so many others -- will have its flaws. But it will also have a little community magic in it.

To bone up, here's the Seattle voter guide info and more from King County Elections. You can also get to know the mayoral candidates a little more intimately at Saturday's Capitol Hill Community Council forum.

Seattle mayoral candidates Michael McGinn and Joe Mallahan squared off on Capitol Hill Tuesday night in a forum sponsored by the Seattle Human Services Coalition by portraying themselves as having the same progressive values as the social services advocates in the room.

In a campaign focused on the future of the viaduct, removing the city’s head tax on employees, and cutting consultants and political appointees from City Hall, the forum at Miller Community Center was an opportunity to challenge the candidates about what they’d do about the poorest in society. The two have been going head to head at a number of debates including one on Monday sponsored by City Club, as reported by the Seattle P-I and Publicola.

At the same time, social services leaders said they have only vague ideas of the candidates and the impression neither are particularly knowledgeable about issues like homelessness.

In a largely tepid forum, the closest the candidates came to fireworks was when they were asked about the role the mayor should...

CHS just heard a call go out on East Precinct police radio regarding a woman reporting being assaulted by a demonstrator on Broadway. We were wondering what kind of demonstration was happening on Broadway that we'd somehow missed. Then we saw this picture in @kevinseattle's tweet stream and everything made sense.

More when we can find out what happened from SPD.

City Attorney and candidate Tom Carr (Photo: City of Seattle)

The Stranger doesn't like Tom Carr. Comrade Bunny's mom doesn't like Tom Carr. You can not like him yourself or welcome him to the East Precinct Thursday night -- your call.

East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition Meeting

Thursday, September 24, 2009
6:30-8:00pm
Seattle Vocational Institute
Room 401
2120 S. Jackson St.

Topics: Special Guest Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr
Community Concerns & Precinct Updates

By the way, Carr's opponent in the City Attorney race, Peter Holmes, racked up yet another endorsement last week, the Seattle Times reports.

Our news partnership with the Seattle Times has meant some good things for CHS: We have access to Seattle Times photo resources, we get some strong citywide attention when we break interesting news and we get some respect from the offline crowd. We also get invited to better parties.

On October 21st, CHS will be part of the KING-5-Seattle Times mayoral debate -- we get to ask a probing question or three. They're not trusting their neighborhood news editors to do their thing on live TV, however -- probably smart. Instead, we're taping the questions this week.

So, what's on your mind re: the would-be mayors, Capitol Hill? I plan to ask questions that are specific to the Hill. Hopefully they draw out answers that are useful city-wide. But, if not and Ballard gets bored, no worries -- they'll also get a turn.

Let me know what you'd like Seattle's mayoral candidates to be asked in the comments. If you like somebody's question, click the green thumb or add a +1 comment.

Update 10:05 PM by Lucas Anderson, Neighborlogs.com:
A cast of candidates gathered at the University Heights Community Center Tuesday night, as the 43rd District Democrats made their endorsements for the fall election. Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn came out on top with 69% of the vote, breeching the 60% level needed to receive endorsement despite Mallahan's roots in the 43rd district.

The Candidates played to the usual line up of topics, fielding questions on background, nightlife and development, transportation, budget, and the standard Alaskan Way Viaduct/deep bore tunnel question. When asked about what they would bring to the position, Mallahan cited his executive experience, and his background as a business leader with "insider support." McGinn responded, saying "Having the support of insiders is one thing, and having the support of people is what is important."

With help from Mike O'Brien, a candidate for City Council, McGinn fought Mallahan's accusation that the "decision has been made" on the deep...

Capitol Hill would have been perfectly happy paying a 20-cent plastic grocery bag tax -- much of the rest of the city, it turns out, would not have. A Seattle Times analysis shows which neighborhoods supported Referendum 1 and which neighborhoods were part of its defeat. Here are the neighborhood results mapped out courtesy of the Times -- the darkest greens represent areas where Ref 1 was supported by 60% or more, the darkest red, where it was rejected by 60% or more.

Download PDF (Image: Seattle Times)

You might recall that about $1.4 million was poured into the campaign by a chemical industry trade group to help defeat the tax.

CHS also looked at how Capitol Hill's election night votes broke out in the primary mayor's race.

The first in a series of debates pitting Seattle mayoral candidates Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan took place today inside the Cinerama movie theater of all places. Here's the video of the match-up.

UPDATE 2:27 PM:
Mallahan campaign spokesperson Charla Neuman said her camp's position hasn't changed following the McGinn conference. She said Joe Mallahan will continue to oppose the First Hill/Cap Hill streetcar. "He's going to keep looking for wise investments. We can get more done with less dollars if we invest in bus routes," Neuman said.

Neuman said McGinn's bid to drag Mallahan into a fight on the streetcar issue is a desperate ploy to create a new campaign issue. "He says the streetcar is already paid for," Neuman said. "He's trying to politicize the issue. We don't know what this is going to cost yet."

"Joe knows that there are better ways to spend transportation dollars than on empty streetcars," Neuman said. "He also knows that voters approved this. If the project ends up being more expensive or is not feasible, the city should renegotiate."

"McGinn is very smooth at talking about and covering what he doesn't know," Neuman said. "He doesn''t have anything else to talk about other than the Viaduct. He's a one issue candidate."

UPDATE 12:30 PM: 
In today's conference in First Hill Park, McGinn said, "I believe that when the voters vote for something, and approve something, we should build it." In an attempt to connect the streetcar issue with the planned Viaduct replacement tunnel, McGinn said that Mallahan supports an issue that "70% of voters disapprove of" yet does not support the street car with "70% voter approval."

"It shows a difference in values and a difference in vision for the city of Seattle," McGinn said.

More coverage can be found at CDNews.

Original Report
A spat over a streetcar that will run from First Hill to Capitol Hill has caused one of the first punches to be thrown in the fall election phase of Seattle's fight for mayor. Candidate Mike McGinn is holding a conference Tuesday morning in First Hill Park to show his support for the line and call on his opponent to drop opposition to the new streetcar route.

One issue with this first salvo: It's not clear Joe Mallahan will punch back or that he even opposes the streetcar coming to Capitol Hill.

UPDATE 10:15 AM:
According to campaign spokesperon Charla Neuman, Mallahan's opposition to the First Hill streetcar is based on his belief that streetcars are an inefficient use of taxpayer money. "And that's just something we can't have right now," Neuman said. "This is about all streetcars."

This weekend CHS noted a Seattle Times article that pointed out that both Seattle mayoral candidates oppose a streetcar extension along 1st Ave through downtown and Belltown. But the Times article reported that Capitol Hill's streetcar plans, too, were being scrutinized by candidate Mallahan. Mallahan has not yet issued a statement clarifying his position.

The First Hill/Capitol Hill streetcar project is being paid for by Sound Transit as part of an agreement reached when the original plans for light rail in the area had to be scrapped. Area community groups are already busy advocating for where the line should be built with Boren, Broadway, 12th Ave and even a Broadway-12th Ave loop concept being considered by city planners.

CHS will be at the conference and is also working to get a statement from the Mallahan camp to clarify their position on the First Hill/Cap Hill streetcar line.

Capitol Hill's sate senator Ed Murray will not be entering the race to become Seattle's mayor. Murray had been the subject of speculation -- and some speedy polling research -- about possibly entering the race as a write-in candidate. Here is the statement from Murray about his decision:

While I am deeply concerned for the future of our city and Michael and I are honored to have been approached by so many people and organizations we admire and respect, I am also a realist: write-in campaigns are extremely difficult, and time is short. Also, the recognition yesterday that Referendum 71 will appear on the fall ballot galvanized my decision.

I considered a write in campaign because I was concerned that one candidate wanted to reopen a fight with the state when we need to work together. The other candidate who seeks to become our civic leader has failed to engage in civic activities including on the most basic level, voting, something Americans in the south have died for in our lifetime.

I considered running because I believe Seattle is greater than the selfish conversation in the Mayor's race. Missing are issues and leadership on social justice. Issues of poverty and civil rights. This campaign to date has been about one bridge and one neighborhood. Issues such as our schools, neighborhoods and diversity are missing from this debate.

I urge the candidates to broaden their messages and address the critical issues facing our city and look forward to working with one of them as our next mayor.

Collecting statements from the Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan camps. Here's what McGinn had to say about the decision in an e-mail blast that just went out:

I respect Senator Murray's decision to not enter the race for mayor. Eight days ago, I welcomed him to the race saying "Seattle deserves a great debate." Despite Sen. Murray's decision not to run, I believe we can still have that great debate and give voters smart and clear choices.

In his statement today, Sen. Murray called for a broader discussion on issues like social justice, poverty, civil rights, schools, neighborhoods and diversity.  He's right.  There is a wide array of complex issues facing our city.  Over the next several weeks, I will be meeting with leaders in these communities, listening and proposing a clear set of positions and plans.

Finally, the threat posed by opponents to civil rights,  cannot be underestimated, and it will take a smart and dedicated campaign to pass R-71. I look forward to closely working with Sen. Murray and other leaders in our city to make sure we do everything possible to maximize the vote coming out of Seattle for this important measure.

Washington's Secretary of State today said a referendum requiring voter approval of the 'everything but marriage law' has enough signatures to make the fall ballot, the Seattle Times reports:

After a month of counting petition signatures, the secretary of state's office said that Referendum 71 had 121,617 valid signatures — nearly a thousand more than needed to advance to the general election.

Meanwhile, opponents of R-71 were in court Monday asking a King County judge to at least temporarily block the referendum from the ballot, arguing that election officials have accepted thousands of invalid signatures.

According to the Times there is still a slim chance a court case questioning the process by which signatures are accepted and rejected in the referendum qualification process keeps R-71 off the ballot. That case should be decided on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Publicola is reporting on where Seattle candidates stand on the issue.