Four years ago on Election Night, CHS readers went to bed with excitement about the strong showings for Pramila Jayapal, Nicole Macri, and Sound Transit 3 — and worries from the just before midnight concession of Hillary Clinton in her defeat by Donald Trump. An overnight protest gathered groups at 10th and Pike and small fires were reported set across the Hill and in Cal Anderson Park. There were no reported arrests and Seattle Police mostly stood by to monitor the small crowds but it was a sign of the years to come.

In 2020 as we prepare again for Election Night in Seattle, there are reasons for optimism even as already boarded business districts add new corners of plywood to join the blocks that have stayed boarded up throughout the pandemic and ongoing protests. Polling has improved thanks to increased effort at the state level. And turnout is surging across much of the country boosted by gains and improvements in by-mail and absentee voting in many states.

In King County, turnout has already reached 72% with 1,014,557 ballots returned as of Sunday night’s update.

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That’s only 40,000 shy of the voter total here in 2016 when the county reached 82%. Our own 43rd State Legislative District is doing even better with a 76.5% turnout already recorded. And there is still time. Stop by the ballot drop box in front of the Seattle Central campus on Broadway just north of Pine before Tuesday at 8 PM — the sooner the better. Need help? We’ve rounded-up 2020 endorsements from area publications and organizations here. There some important decisions to be made beyond Trump vs. Biden.

The lobby of my old apartment has boards up. Never happened during CHOP. pic.twitter.com/9Kyj9kBINU

— matt (@mmitgang) November 1, 2020

The weightiest decisions on the night, of course, won’t come down to King County. Instead, we’ll be watching places like Maricopa and Lackawanna, Tarrant County, and, yes, Broward.

After months of Black Lives Matter protests and the political fallout from the demands for defunding the police department still settling, and with ongoing anti-police demonstrations still happening nightly, Seattle officials have struck a cautious tone regarding possible unrest in the coming days.

The city says Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office has been “closely coordinating with the Governor, County Executive, and City departments for a safe and secure Election Day” and that it “has not received any reports of threats or events for Election Day.”

“As of this writing, the Seattle Police Department nor other law enforcement agencies do not have any intelligence to indicate that there are any threats for Election Day or the days following. Our partners at King County Elections have not reported any threats or security issues at any ballot boxes,” a message sent Friday from the city’s Office of Economic Development to business and community organizations across the city reads. “As such, the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department, and other law enforcement agencies have been planning for contingency purposes only in order to be prepared for a wide range of scenarios.”

Seattle Police officials this weekend also announced efforts around “De-escalation, Communication, Protest Medics and Media” and changes to the way they handle demonstrations.

SPD commanders have been more explicit, telling community groups the department is prepared for large-scale civil unrest after the election without citing reported threats or specifics about the department’s concerns. “We don’t know what’s going to happen during the election, so we’re preparing for the whole week, from Sunday to Sunday, planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” and SPD representative told a community crime group last week.

Meanwhile, there will be no candidate parties in Pike/Pine this year. If you’re looking for community, the 43rd District Democrats are hosting a virtual party. After weeks and months of nightly protests, another demonstration seems likely. And maybe, just maybe, the results will be happy enough for socially distanced Election Night dancing in the streets of Capitol Hill. It’s been awhile.

UPDATE 11/3/2020 8:30 AM: The Washington Secretary of State’s office has released on overview of how the first state tallies will be announced and the ongoing process of counting votes:

On election night, each of the 39 county election offices will release results shortly after 8 p.m. At that time, counties will tabulate all of the ballots with signatures that have been processed; the signature on the ballot envelope must match the signature on the voter’s registration record in order to be counted.

Most counties will have PDF results posted on their webpage before the Office of the Secretary of State is able to display statewide results, as they undergo additional auditing and cybersecurity checks.

The office says Washington ballots are not tabulated by counties until after the voting period closes at 8 PM on Election Day. “Following the initial results release on election night, no further results will be reported until November 4th. Washington’s largest counties will post updated results daily while counties with a population of less than 75,000 are required to report at least every three days,” the update reads.

Updated results will be regularly posted through the 21-day certification window. Each county will post their next tabulation date and time along with how many estimated ballots they have left on-hand to process each time they update their results. Results are not final until counties certify them on November 24th. The Secretary of State has until December 3rd to certify the 2020 General Election returns.

In Washington, counties will continue to receive valid ballots by mail after November 3rd. “Any ballot postmarked on Nov. 3 or earlier is considered on-time and will be processed,” the Secretary of State announcement reads.

UPDATE x2: One of the Hill’s largest venues with room to spread out has announced it will be streaming results live on Election Night. You can stop by Optimism masked and ready to experience democracy starting at 4:30 PM.

It's Election Day.
We believe we all need our community's support a little extra tonight so we are choosing to live stream the Election in our brewery starting at 4:30pm. Seating in front of the projector is first come first serve. Book a table online now! https://t.co/hgW7pJthqC pic.twitter.com/MD2tD2dO2q

— Optimism Brewing Co. (@OptimismBrewing) November 3, 2020

UPDATE x3: For further inspiration, here’s what the Pike/Pine/Broadway celebration looked like in 2008:

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Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.