The Primary is On
Ballots for the August 2, 2022, top-two Primary Election are in the mail. According to the Spokane County Elections website, they went out this Wednesday and Thursday, and the last go out today. Look for your ballot. Separate it from all the junk mail disguised as official mail that you receive. If you haven’t received your ballot by the time the mail arrives on Saturday, go to myvote.wa.gov and check your “Residential Address”. That’s the address of record to which the ballot should have been mailed. It also determines the precinct in which you’re registered, and, therefore, the races that appear on your ballot. Click “Ballot Status” under “My Ballot” in the left hand column. There you can see when your ballot was (or will be) mailed—and, if it doesn’t appear in your mailbox, request that a new one be mailed. (Notice that at myvote.wa.gov you are on the Washington State Secretary of State’s website, but, once you put in your name and birthday, Spokane County registered voters see data managed by the Spokane County Auditor’s office, Vicky Dalton, Spokane County Auditor.)
2022 is an even-numbered, non-presidential election year. Apart from federal and state legislative positions, many of which are up for election every even year, the focus of an even-numbered, non-presidential year election (at least in Washington State) is elected positions at the level of county government.
Let’s cover the above-mentioned federal and state legislative positions first: All the U.S. House of Representative seats (2 year terms) and Washington State Representatives (to Olympia) (also 2 year terms) appear on the ballot. One U.S. Senate seat (6 year terms) and some Washington State Senate seats (4 year terms) also appear this year. It depends on the particular rotation of each seat. (In Washington State, U.S. Senator Patti Murray is on the ballot this year.)
Unusually, the office of Washington Secretary of State (SOS)—a key position in election administration for WA State—appears in this years election cycle. Ordinarily, state-wide offices in Washington State are on the ballot only in presidential year elections (e.g. 2020, 2024). The WA SOS appears this year because the current sitting SOS is an appointee filling out the four year term of former SOS Kim Wyman. My personal favorite for this race is Julie Anderson, a non-partisan candidate with extensive administrative experience as Pierce County Auditor. To my reading she is a better qualified administrator than the appointed SOS, a former legislator.
In Spokane County government all the elected positions are on the ballot (excepting judges). Each of us gets to on each of four contested (and important) races in this Primary: Spokane County Auditor, one of the five new County Commissioner seats (elected from each of five new districts), Spokane County Prosecutor, and Spokane County Sheriff.
Vicky Dalton is the clear choice for Auditor. Her opponent, Bob McCaslin, Jr., is an unqualified election fraud ideologue.
The County Commissioner races are critical. Read up on the background and importance:
Spokane County Commissioners (my writing).
and/or
The most powerful elected positions you (probably) know nothing about, an excellent article by Carl Segerstrom of RANGE MEDIA.
Mark your ballot. I recommend and value the analysis presented by the progressivevotersguide.com.
A few notes on the Progressive Voters’ Guide:
1- This top-two primary election for the Spokane County Prosecutor is a strong argument for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). My preference is Deb Conklin, but the candidate I most wish to advance to the November General Election is whichever one can unseat current Prosecutor Larry Haskell—the classical voting conundrum solved by RCV.
2- The Progressive Voters Guide offers no recommendation for the new Spokane County Commissioner Districts 3 (NE) and 4 (SE). In District 3, unfortunately, Josh Kerns doesn’t have a credible challenger. In District 4 (SE), if I lived there I would cast my vote for Mary Kuney.
3- In the Spokane County Sheriff’s race I find myself marginally favoring Wade Nelson, mostly based on a lengthy reading of the Spokesman articleon the three candidates.
Turn in Your Ballot: Once you mark your ballot you can just put it in the mail. Your tax dollars (at $0.67 per ballot) pay the postage if you do. Save those tax dollars by depositing your ballot in an official Dropbox (and avoid possible post office delays). Check out the list of Dropbox locations click here or, even easier, go to myvote.wa.gov and click “Ballot Drop Boxes and Voting Centers” under “Current Elections” (The map refuses to display on some internet browsers.) Take note, though: The Indian Trail and South Hill Library locations are currently closed—AND there are four new Dropbox locations. Check it out!
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. Generally speaking, judgeships only appear on the Primary Ballot if three run for the same position. In Spokane County no seat this election has three candidates, so these folk will appear only on the General Election Ballot in November.