Dave Reichert did exceptionally well today in ballots counted in Pierce County, extending his lead over Darcy Burner in that portion of the 8th CD from 54.5% - 45.5% to 56.1% - 43.9%. That's a lot of movement in a modest batch of votes.
The overall tally, including King County, now has Reichert ahead 50.55% - 49.45% as of this typing.
King County will have another significant tally later this evening. These will largely be ballots cast in the middle of the voting period. The Election Night count of early mail-in ballots in King County gave Burner a 57% - 43% margin. Reichert won the poll votes to close the margin there. A number of additional mail-in ballots in King County were tallied in the middle of the day, providing Burner with a more modest 51.5% - 48.5% lead in that count.
Thus, the trend is pretty clear. Even with a net Burner gain later tonight, trends indicated further tightening in King County, perhaps even an eventual Reichert lead there. Meanwhile, Pierce County has a lot of ballots left to count in an area that is giving Reichert a very healthy margin. Current turnout statistics show 40.27% for King and 36.71% for Pierce based on ballots counted thus far (yes, that is agonizingly slow). Given the 80+% turnout everyone expected we have a ways to go.
Again, the sum of the overall trend lines looks good for Reichert. The devilish truth remains, however, that this is all rather close. Back to the waiting.
UPDATE: King County's late night count gave Burner a modest margin. Reichert maintains an overall lead and the overall trend lines in both Pierce and King favor Reichert if later mail-in ballots continue to move toward the margins Reichert achieved with poll voters.
Good heavens this is going to take a while...
Posted by Eric Earling at November 05, 2008 08:17 PM | Email ThisWhat I'd like to know is what Darcy is going to do now. If she runs again she's virtually become Heidi Behrens-Benedict. Maybe Obama can help her finally get her foot in the door in government! First, appoint Inslee to the Cabinet like some have speculated. Then, Eric Oemig runs for Inslee's seat in the special election and probably wins. Then Darcy can run for Oemig's seat and given that the 45th won't even elect Toby Nixon anymore that seat's probably a given too. Problem solved.
Posted by: TMW on November 6, 2008 02:43 AMDarcy Burner running for State legislature? That's beneath her. She also won't be able to afford it since the nutroots won't care about her if she's not running for a national office. The other problem is that Darcy doesn't live in the 45th.
I'm not so sure that Oemig could take Inslee's seat. Of course it all depends on who the GOP puts up to run against him. Oemig has done nothing for the people of the 45th from his freshman position in the state senate except be the point of ridicule with his lame attempt at trying to impeach Bush. He's pretty good at smear tactics and campaign lies though. Just ask Toby Nixon.
Cantwell won.
Lord how I hope Reichert wins as he is my *only* voice in elected government: County Council (D), County Exec (D), State House (D x 2), State Senate (D), Governor (D), US House (?), US Senate (D x 2), Prez (D).
Suck suck suck.
When the aerial alignment comes over I-90 onto Bellevue Way at the height of the aerial lines at the airport, and the corridor condemns numerous homes, disturbs the Mercer Slough environment & wildlife, & takes out huge stands of trees & creates visual blight & noise, Enatai will be wishing they had woken up sooner.
Suck suck suck
Posted by: WestBellevueMom on November 6, 2008 08:58 AMOf course, by then (2020?), we will all have moved.
If they select a corridor on Bellevue Way, the South Bellevue Park & Ride will either be 4 stories tall or will double in footprint (building & pavement coverage)- and will be sited IN THE WETLAND. So much for environmental protections. Not to mention that SBP&R is in a liquifaction zone (land turns to mush) if there is a major earthquake.
And they will likely change the surrounding zoning to allow businesses at the station (and possibly change from single family to multi-family or commercial), which in their language would support a Transit Oriented Development, or TOD.
That means zoning changes to denser zoning, folks. To achieve that density, they may take (condemn) nearby homes & property, so that any increase in value due to the change is not realized by the present owners.
Business as usual for Sound Transit.
Posted by: WestBellevueMom on November 6, 2008 10:38 AM1. Having been to Japan --the Mecca of public transit -- many times, I've really come to appreciate the train stops as dense business locations. If the station doesn't have loads of stores and restaurants, you're missing the point: train stations are community hubs. I'm not saying that I favor light rail or any particular location but I do think that stations and retail should be inseparable.
2. You can't say that Darcy Burner isn't working hard at getting elected. A friend just got called by her campaign to let him know that his ballot had been rejected due to a signature mismatch. They even volunteered to come to his house and deliver the correction form to the county.
Posted by: SeattleSE on November 6, 2008 11:28 AM
How would anyone on Burner's campaign know when a ballot is rejected? That just sounds fishy to me.
Last winter I went to the top of the Needle and just looked around with a careful eye towards whether light rail or subways would work in Seattle. No way; the area is not dense enough (though voters could be considered such in Seattle) for the same type of systems you see here or in other metropolitan areas.
Posted by: swatter on November 6, 2008 12:05 PMI remember that the Democrats this year came up with the "low information voter" handle. I think that they may be on to something with that. When you mix in the overall press bias and the outright lies that the Demorats are willing to use, this is may be something new. Heavy pandering to the perennially stupid.
Posted by: G Jiggy on November 6, 2008 12:09 PMYou are on target- the density in Enatai doesn't come close to what is needed to support cost-efficient ridership, unless you change the zoning (upzone) to create more riders that depend on rail.
That's what Bellevue is planning for Bel-Red corridor, creating a light rail corridor by condemning private property & carving through the middle of long-established small businesses, where there is no road now.
Did I mention that Sound Transit has allocated HALF a BILLION dollars (500 Million) to condemn property between I-90 and Overlake for Right of Way (ROW) acquisition?
-On another note, a Democrat representative came by my door on election night to make sure we had voted. Wonder who was funding that?
Swatter@13, Beloved is a little much. Although I do have favorite sushi joints near Shimbashi and Aoyama-Ichome stations in Tokyo. :) However, I'm not saying that I favor light rail here, I don't, I'll pay for it forever and never ride it since it comes nowhere near my home. I'm just saying that rail transit makes no sense to me unless the stations become hubs of community activity. The apparent vision of the proponents of light rail where a station is just a stop with a big parking structure blows. It's fine for the airport but really misses the mark. In fact, it's as if the long term plan must be to rezone areas near the stations as all commercial/condos.
Posted by: SeattleSE on November 6, 2008 01:04 PMWhat I'm curious about is how the heck does Darcy Burner know which ballots are being rejected?
Also, if Burner, or one of her minions, put hands on an actual ballot (rejected or otherwise), that's not good. How can the privacy of the voters be protected with that sort of thing happening? I can't believe that this is even legal.
Posted by: Smoley on November 6, 2008 01:37 PMUnderstood, that you're not in favor of a particular site.
"In fact, it's as if the long term plan must be to rezone areas near the stations as all commercial/condos."
...And that's exactly why the South Bellevue Park & Ride is not an appropriate or cost-effective site for a hub of community activity- between an environmentally sensitive area with some protected species and a wetland, and a single-family, low density neighborhood with few riders...
Posted by: WestBellevueMom on November 6, 2008 01:38 PMIt never occurred to me that they saw the ballot. I just assumed that there was a list of names and contact information for voters whose ballots were rejected. What I'm curious about is if they're calling all of the rejected voters or if they have somehow targeted areas with high Burner turnout. Perhaps not calling Pierce county, for example. As long as it's legal, you've got to admire the perseverance of her campaign. This isn't really a dirty trick at all and my friend hasn't gotten any calls from the Reichert campaign. If she's going to grub for votes, I'd rather she do it this way than searching on the floor under voting machines.
Posted by: SeattleSE on November 6, 2008 01:46 PMI just don't see it.
Posted by: swatter on November 6, 2008 04:00 PMNow, in addition to the phone call, there's a letter from the WA State Democratic Central Committee explaining how to get the vote counted included are the affidavit that you need to sign as well as a stamped envelope to put it in.
Again, they are tenacious and I don't think that there's anything wrong with doing this but, franky, I find the use of "Central Committee" a bit creepy if not downright worrisome. Surely everyone knows the connotation of that particular phrase?
Those are two things the power structure loves: Wetlands and Eminent Domain to increase the tax base. Two guesses who gets the shaft as this unfolds. That's "Change!" for you.
Posted by: SeattleSE on November 6, 2008 04:25 PMAccording to the Reichert campaign, they're getting out the (rejected) vote too, so no worries here. As long as both sides get a shot at getting what are probably mostly legitimate votes counted, I don't see a problem. Since you're required to send include a copy of your photo I.D. the probability of fraud seems low. Let every legitimate vote count.
Posted by: SeattleSE on November 6, 2008 04:49 PMIf the difference of votes between the two candidates is less than 1/2 of one percent, an automatic recount will take place (at the expense of the taxpayers). However, another recount could be requested by Burner & Co. if they want to bankroll it themselves.
What do you want to bet that the nutroots from outside the district (lead by Goldy, of course) will throw even more money at Burner's feet in order to get Marcy-Darcy a recount, should the difference be greater than 1/2 of one percent?
...and almost all of the local district Democrats endorsed Prop 1...
I wonder if they, the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society know what kind of environmental destruction they have endorsed, when Sound Transit starts digging in deep peat in Mercer Slough wetland to put in deep posts that will be towering like at the airport(& supposedly earthquake proof).
What's that going to do to the fish, 2 kinds of protected salmon, blue herons, etc, etc?
Posted by: WestBellevueMom on November 6, 2008 05:08 PMnot only did i get physical mail from Dems, today 2 guys showed up at my door asking about my signature.
scary
I called KC elections; they could care less
Posted by: righton on November 7, 2008 02:50 PM