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You still have time to help keep King County from hitting lowest voter turnout of the 2000s

Odd year primaries can produce some terrible voter turnout numbers — add the life challenges of pandemic and 2021’s slate of candidates appears set to produce a real stinker.

So far, only around 66,093 people are about to set the course for the City of Seattle by selecting the top two mayoral candidates in Tuesday’s August 3rd primary election.

King County Elections says turnout is trickling in at around 13% of registered voters in the city and across the county with hopes of the final tally falling somewhere above 20%. The number could rival the 2015 primary’s dismal 25%, the lowest recorded turnout in the county in the 2000s.

2021’s low participation follows record turnout in November as 87% returned ballots to help remove President Donald Trump from office.

In 2019, turnout was boosted to 35% with a slate of races in Seattle for the district-based seats on the city council producing battles like socialist Kshama Sawant squaring off with pro-business candidate Egan Orion for Capitol Hill’s District 3 seat. 2017’s countywide turnout hit 34%.

In 2021, some vitally important races will be decided by a puny representation of voters. 15 candidates are vying to lead the city and replace Mayor Jenny Durkan who is stepping down after a single term of office. Meanwhile, both citywide seats on the nine-member Seattle City Council are up for grabs though incumbent Teresa Mosqueda seems unlikely to be displaced from her seat on the city’s legislative body. City Attorney Pete Holmes, meanwhile, faces a challenge not from Seattle’s right where he has been roundly attacked as soft on crime but from its abolitionist left.

The August primary vote also includes a King County ballot measure to renew the Best Starts for Kids levy.

Looking for help completing your ballot? CHS shared responses here to five Capitol Hill and Central District questions for the Seattle mayoral candidates. You can also see responses from candidates for citywide Seattle City Council Position 9 here. A vote for Seattle School Board candidates to represent Capitol Hill and Central District public schools is also on the ballot.

You can also check out our CHS 2021 Mayoral Primary Ranked Choice Survey for a demonstration of how ranked choice voting could work. The results, posted here, demonstrate an election in which the winner of the first round’s results, Andrew Grant Houston, failed to finish in the top two when distributing ranked choice votes to the other candidates in the process. As for the chances M. Lorena González and Bruce Harrell really will take the top two slots in the primary, they might, but it will only mean the CHS survey got lucky. The survey included just over 1,000 self-selected participants — a voting pool wholly unrepresentative of the city’s electorate.

Want to boost King County turnout? Election officials are encouraging voters to visit an official county drop box to turn in ballots before Tuesday’s August 3rd, 8 PM deadline. You can also mail your ballot with no postage required but there’s a risk it might not arrive in time to be counted. The Capitol Hill box is located on Broadway in front of Seattle Central. All drop box locations can be found here.

 

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