Workers were ready Tuesday at the Lumen Field Vote Center to help with assistance registering or voting (Image: King County Elections)
With races involving voters in the city of Seattle sometimes featuring relatively radical changes as late ballots from younger, more progressive, more likely to procrastinate voters come in, early Election Night counts in the November 2022 General Election show a good start for Leesa Manion in the race to become the first woman and person of color to serve as King County Prosecutor and a neck and neck decision over whether the city should adopt a new approach to holding primary elections for its mayor and city council.
Meanwhile, another good start is on the board for Democratic incumbent Patty Murray in her effort to defend her seat in the Senate and fend off a pro-life Republican challenger in a race that surprisingly ended up coming right through Capitol Hill.
Election night counts in King County included ballots representing about 31.83% of registered voters — overall turnout is expected to reach 72%.
- Latest county results from King County Elections (PDF)
- Latest statewide results from the Washington Secretary of State
ELECTION NIGHT REPORT
For Manion, early ballot counts showed the longtime lieutenant to retiring prosecutor Dan Satterberg with a sizable 11-point lead over challenger and current Federal Way mayor Jim Ferrell. CHS reported here on Manion’s years working in the prosecutor’s office and pledges for continuity in diversion reforms. Ferrell, meanwhile, painted himself as a tough on crime Democrat.
Manion told CHS she sess a multi-faceted approach as the solution to the county’s struggles with revolving door justice and repeat offenders. This looks like building up social services to help people who are stealing to feed themselves or who are struggling with a mental illness or addiction while also accumulating data to crack down on organized crime and systematic attacks on businesses, the candidate said. “I think that the people in King County are really compassionate, and I believe that the compassion has been tested,” Manion said.
Other countywide votes included early good signs for Charter Amendment 1 which would move elections for King County positions to even-year ballots. Proposition 1, which would double the property tax used to pay for the Conservation Futures Program to preserve open space, urban greenspace, trails, natural lands, rivers, farmland and forests, also was off to a strong start.
In Seattle, the biggest race on the ballot will apparently be a squeaker. The city’s voters are voting on voting — the first question on the ballot whether to make a change or not to the way we run our primary for the mayor’s office and city council was a near dead heat on Election Night. If “yes” prevails, voters apparently overwhelming support ranked-choice voting. CHS reported here on how the question ended up on the ballot and the differences between the proposed formats. Under ranked-choice, voters rank candidates in order of preference and the results are tallied. The top two candidates that emerge from the combined voter pool ranking go through to the General Election.
Sen. Murray, meanwhile, also was off to a strong Election Night start with a near 15-point lead over challenger Tiffany Smiley. CHS reported here on Murray’s response to the MAGA-friendly challenger’s campaign that dragged Capitol Hill and the shuttered E Olive Way Starbucks into the fray over control of the Senate in 2022. Meanwhile, the political response to threats against abortion rights is now being felt. “If we get people to vote, I will not lose this election,” Murray told a small crowd of supporters who gathered late last month for her campaign stop inside Capitol Hill’s Elliott Bay Book Company. “Who is speaking for you matters.” UPDATE: The AP has called the race for Murray. Locally, Murray walloped Smiley even more handily, with Election Night totals showing the incumbent reaching more than 74% of the vote in King County. Overall, Murray sat at just over 57% on Election Night across the state. Despite the numbers, Smiley refused to immediately concede, demonstrating exactly why her campaign struggled in Washington State right up to the end.
Live from E Olive Way pic.twitter.com/IfTldEUWyp
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 9, 2022
If you haven’t registered to vote yet you can do it in person up until 8 o’clock tonight that’s what Patty I mean Lady liberty is sharing with this couple. #komonews pic.twitter.com/Iwwg3Tie2k
— Michelle Esteban (@MichelleKOMO) November 8, 2022
The results come on a relatively quiet Election Night for the city. CHS reported here early this year on the lack of challengers for the area’s Democratic incumbents serving in Olympia including Sen. Jamie Pedersen, Rep. Nicole Macri, and Rep. Frank Chopp. Still, neighborhood ballot drop boxes were reported full on Broadway and at the Garfield Community Center. Turnout stats showed some typical patterns including older voters dominating early returns.
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