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UPDATE 4:45 PM: Kshama Solidarity announced they have decided to postpone Sunday’s party:
Because of rapid developments with the omicron variant of COVID-19, our campaign has made the decision to postpone our Victory Party (previously scheduled for tomorrow evening). Because of the highly transmissible nature of the new variant, we feel this is an unfortunate but necessary step, even with the Covid-19 safety measures we had prepared for the event.
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Kshama Sawant’s successful defense of her District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council was certified by King County Elections Friday.
The final gap was 310 votes out of 41,158 ballots cast and, barring a last-minute recount request, keeps the longest serving, three-time elected member of the council in office to continue her term through 2023 and the next district election.
King County Elections officials said Friday that the unprecedented December recall election also saw some unprecedented levels of participation. First, overall turnout including challenged ballots climbed above 53%, higher than estimates heading into the unusual December 7th vote.
As for the challenges, response on that front also showed a high level of voter engagement. The tallies included 491 ballots challenged over factors like missing or mismatched signatures, or late arrival. Officials said 68% of voters responded to try to clear up their challenge issue. Another sign? Only 33% of the challenges involved late arriving ballots. In the November general election, officials said that number was a much more typical 52%.
The election included 13 observers from across the campaigns and involved organizations.
Meanwhile, elections officials said the single-item, single-district ballot also required fewer temporary workers as a staff of around 43 worked to make sure the vote went smoothly.
Meanwhile, the intense “get out the vote” effort from the Sawant camp included legal “grassroots voting stations” that included ballot printing — but, the campaign said, no “electioneering” — for voters. About 3% of ballots — around 1,400 — were printed, a much higher rate than typical, KING 5 reports.
“Working people across Seattle have a hard-fought victory to celebrate — a victory 15 months in the making!,” the Kshama Solidarity campaign said in a message to supporters. “Defeating the right-wing recall and their many corporate donors would not have been possible without the thousands of young people, renters, people of color, and working people who made sacrifices so that they could volunteer and donate to this campaign.”
A victory party is planned for Sunday night at Capitol Hill’s Chop Suey music club.
Elections officials say a recount can be requested under state law until 4:30 PM two business days after certification and must be paid for by the requestor.
The Recall Sawant campaign doesn’t appear likely to make the demand. In a “FINAL MESSAGE” sent to media during the Friday afternoon certification, campaign manager Henry Bridger said the unsuccessful effort “showed that Seattle citizens will hold elected officials accountable to the voters for irresponsible and illegal acts.”
“While this election will not end with removing Councilmember Sawant from office, her narrow escape sends a clear message: Seattle voters are yearning for constructive representation and will not tolerate slash-and-burn politicians who shirk accountability and divide the city,” Bridger wrote. “Sawant is supposed to represent all of us, not just those who agree with her, and we hope that this election leads her to see that.”
There are, of course, other ways to look at those 310 votes. Twice previously, business community-backed candidates have been handily defeated by strong support for Sawant in the most densely populated areas of Capitol Hill and the Central District. The recall defense will match those patterns, following her “turnaround” victory over chamber-backed Egan Orion in 2019 and the 2015 trouncing of Urban League CEO Pamela Banks. At the start, her “comeback” win against veteran councilmember Richard Conlin in 2013 was when Sawant and Socialist Alternative’s “get out the vote” legend first began to grow. On election night, Conlin was more than 7 points ahead of Sawant, with a 6,000 vote lead. Sawant, of course, refused to concede the race.
In November, D3 voters preferred González over Harrell for mayor, Nikkita Oliver for the council, and Nicole Thomas-Kennedy for city attorney. In 2023, if she decides to again defend her seat, they may very well still prefer Kshama Sawant.
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1400 printed ballets. Nothing suspicious here, move along.
Yes, no electioneering going on at those ballot printing stations, paid for by Kshama with printers, ink and envelopes from Amazon (!). Nothing to see here. Move along!
Very Trumpian of you to cast doubt on a legitimate election practice! Perhaps the recall folks should have been out on the streets working for their cause as hard as the Sawant folks the final two weeks? I mean, did they think intentionally delaying the election to a date between two holidays was enough to seal a victory for their side? Even the right wing “news” website MyNorthwest acknowledged that Sawant would have won by a bigger margin in November: https://mynorthwest.com/3280246/sawant-recall-turnout-nearly-on-par-november-general-election/
We’ve never seen this ballot printing on the street before so quit acting like its so completely normal occurrence. And for you to not act like you wouldn’t be losing your f****** mind if it was the other side that was bringing in AstroTurfers to print ballots on the side of the road. Gtfoh.
“the other side” wouldn’t print ballots because their goal is for people not to vote.
“Helping people vote” is neutral; putting up -15 kiosks with STOP THE RIGHT WING RECALL is not. One is good, one is not. The kiosks only “helped” people vote NO. There was no way not be bullied and vote YES. Your people didn’t steal; but you did push the laws past their intent. Hope you’re happy with your bullied victory of 309 votes. None of us RECALL folks will be skipping the election next time. Better plan on doubling your bully-booths. Its the only way you can win.
Just like the recall itself, which is meant for crimes beyond Sawant’s idiotic actions, but was instead used by a group of people to remove someone they didn’t like outside the normal election process.
Neither groups actions were illegal. Calling out helping registered voters to vote as “pushing the law” only makes sense if your goal is to suppress voter turnout so your side can win.
If only those who supported the recall understood how voting actually works but this is how voter suppression goes. A recall is not just calling someone’s manager to get a refund.
And voting for Sawant isn’t making you any more Socialist; its just letting you pretend you are.
Seriously, people should look up the actual amount of election fraud that has occurred in this country. It’s… like not a thing. There have been fewer legit cases than the supposed “1400 printed ballets.”
So if you’re correct, this would be the biggest case of electoral fraud in the entire history of the US. For a local recall election. Do you really think a bunch of people would commit federal crimes to keep someone elected?
Do you really think Sawant supporters printing ballots on Broadway said absolutely nothing to promote their cause while printing out and harvesting ballots? Not a word, not a flyer, nothing?
Do you still not understand that it’s still legal? Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s illegal. You might just have to learn to live with things you don’t like… like the rest of the us.
Printing only NO would be illegal. The booths all said “Vote NO Here,” and were festooned with Sawant signage and banners. Staffed by Sawant goons who bullied anyone engaging them other than to vote NO. Blocked sidewalks and wouldn’t let people pass without engaging.
The “rest of us” are just glad its over – and will keep votinf against Comrade every time she runs for office. Better stock up on more ways to cheat the vote. How many people did you recruit from outside D3 to claim they lived here, anyway? Those experiencing homelessness are legap voters; did you help them claim a Capitol Hill park was their voting address?
Please read more on election laws. Just say you hate everyone having equal opportunities and move on in your insular world.
I voted to recall, but was not happy about doing so. I think the recall is a slippery slope, but I do not like Sawant’s style of socialism, more like dictator communism. As for election fraud, total BS. I walked by the printing stations and was called a Trumpian…. So what, did not change my voting for the recall. Don’t like the legit result? I don’t either, so come next election I will participate in electing a progressive demicrat or a socialist other than Sawant.
One of the “talking points” from the pro-Sawant crowd was that the recall campaign was guilty of “voter suppression,” which of course was nonsense, and the solid 53% turnout proves that this is true.
For sure… as soon as she won, suddenly there was no more voter suppression and it was a legitimate election.
I’m actually impressed with Sawant supporters’ vote gathering skills. The printed ballots are legal but this usage was not the intended result of the legislation that allowed it. That said, I’m concerned with the legitimacy of votes due to combining printed ballots with on the spot registration. Also, how do we know the people live in the district and that they have lived in the district for the required 30 days.
I’d like to see the the Secretary of State office look at the 1400 votes and see who they were. The King County voting official’s assurances fall flat to me. Having voting fraud here would look bad, but better to seek out the truth.
Again, there are a few hundred legitimate cases of voter fraud in the history of the United States. Like the entire history.
Yet this election would triple that count alone, and requires this scrutiny.
All you guys are doing is destroying any faith in elections and truth. Sawant supporters were doing it, as are her opponents.
Its legal for those experiencing homelessness to vote. Sawant’s used tiny home camp “recruits” to brigade council meetings and hold signs at rallies before (Scott Morrow lets them get out of camp cleanup duty outside if they “volunteer.”) Sawant’s team has shown its willingness to bend rules past their intended purpose.
All sounds like a scenario where those experiencing homelessness city-wide were encouraged by Sawant to register and claim D3 residency.
I don’t think KC Elections was validating any of those addresses of the instant-registration that the NO booths were doing.
There’s how they did it. 309 voters drummed up from every homeless camp in town. Easy speasy, makes D3 Democracy queasy.
Getting out the vote isnt the same as recruiting people into voting inside D3 even though they live elsewhere. Another loophole found by Sawantists.
Do you have an ounce of proof they went to homeless camps? And do you know how hard it’d be to actually do any of what you say? Your post is a joke and a lie.
Sawant’s people have worked closely with people experiencing homelessness in the past.
There was unprecedented turnout in D3 for an off-year election.
The preponderance of evidence says this likely occurred – that those experiencing homelessness were recruited by Sawant’s people to vote NO, and would not be prevented from doing so because claiming D3 residency would not be checked beyond giving a park camp address.
Lol, your entire argument is based on the further disenfranchisement of homeless people. Well done.
wow, I love how for the past year and half every pro-recall person like your self loved the line ” Sawant is just as bad as Trump. Her supports are just like MAGA supporters. Her tactics are the same, extremist left blah blah”, and yet now that your effort didn’t go as planned, you’re trying to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the election and suggest voter fraud with out actual evidence, which is literally from Trump’s playbook. So much for the holier-than-thou centrism, eh?
Agree with your points raised but it’s over. We’ll get her out next election when we won’t have the hand-wringing “Recalls Bad!” folks. 300 and change votes? Not looking good
To be fair, she keeps winning despite posts like this all the time here. I love Kshama and I’ll keep voting for her.
You do know a lot of people mailed in votes too. Like me. And all my friends.
Love it.
You recall supporters are a threat to US democracy: 1. You strove to overturn the 2019 election result you didn’t like with a recall based on charges many of you recall supporters have admitted are trivial and minor; 2. You intentionally missed the deadline for the Nov. election, expecting a smaller electorate more favorable to your side; 3. Now that you have lost the recall election, you doubt the result. Be gracious and accept the decision of the voters, folks! Don’t be Trump.
I would focus your anger on the actual threat to US democracy, the republican state legislatures around the country that are enacting laws that will lead to voter suppression.
Also, read this post from the Socialist Alternative (the group that writes Sawant’s speeches), specifically look for mentions of the word ‘recall’:
https://www.socialistalternative.org/socialism-in-the-21st-century/how-could-socialism-work/
I probably should have posted this as comment not a reply. GOTV campaigns have used this tactic in the past. In 2013 Mike McGinn’s campaign hit the streets with mobile printers in targeted precincts.
I think these particular get out the vote tactics enter a legal gray area. There is nothing wrong with printing out ballots on the street, but doing so at a partisan “voting booth” definitely walks the legal line. Why? Because electioneering is prohibited within a certain distance of voting locations. Why? To prevent voter intimidation and fraud. It is reasonable to conclude that these were partisan voting booths and the proximity of Sawant staff to actual voters voting would seem to violate the spirit of and/or actual law.
The law should be tweeked to specifically address voting booth activities and ensure they do not encourage or discourage voter results. That shouldn’t be too hard. In a perfect world these types of things would be funded and staffed by the county (non-partisan) to encourage voter turnout by non-partisan means. I think they’re great for that purpose, but somewhat suspect in the hands of partisan poll workers such as Recall or Sawant supporters.
It’s funny watching all the people in here wailing about printed ballots that were totally on board with dragging their feet to ensure this recall wasn’t included on the Nov ballot. If you continue to lose, maybe take a good hard look at why the majority of voters are not aligning with your views. Or, I guess, you can keep your head in the sand, kick and scream that it’s “optics” “TicTok Socialism” or claim “fraud”. That seems to be the trend nowadays.
Recall campaign: Used maneuvering for a special election. This backfired. Kshama would have lost if they had just kept it on the ballot in main election. Nobody wanted to pay extra for the extra election – irresponsible use of city resources. Very disappointed in this maneuver as a voter, think also turned off a lot of people.
Pro-Sawant Groups: I wish she would get involved in school safety in her district and work on ways to assure safety now that she and other councilmembers kicked the cops out – without a backup plan. Nobody in Pennsylvania, New York, etc. supporting her campaign cares about this. Or any other issue specific to the district. Unless she pays more attention to nuts and bolts issues in her district and shows up to community meetings she will likely be voted out the next election.