Elections

Paid petition signature gathering in Washington: What's legal and why

A recent news report in the Everett Herald noted that June is a prime petition-gathering month for four statewide initiatives now in circulation. According to the story, workers collecting signatures to put a referendum on Seattle's new job tax on the November ballot are being paid $6 per signature, and anyone who gets 75 or more signatures a day gets an entry in a drawing for a four-country trip to Europe. "Too good to be true? Or legal?

Filing week 2018: Look who's on the ballot now

Now that filing week for candidates to get onto Washington ballots for the 2018 August Primary and November General Election has passed, along with the May 21st deadline for candidates to withdraw their names, here are a few quick facts about this year's election lineup With 596 races to be decided on levels from local to federal, 1,151 candidates filed to run — including 30 candidates for U.S. Senate, which is one of the largest fields in Washington history. It isn't a state record, though. The 1983 special election to fill the U.S.

After the session: The OSOS report on the 2018 Legislature

Going into the 2018 session of the Washington State Legislature, Secretary of State Kim Wyman presented a list of proposed changes to state law to improve our state's elections process. Now that the state House of Representatives and Senate have adjourned sine die, here's a look at how proposals supported by Secretary Wyman fared. Presidential primary date change: Washington's quadrennial (every four years) presidential primary would have moved from May to March under

Understanding the February Special Election

Did you know there's an election coming up on Tuesday, February 13th? Springtime special elections sometimes get overlooked, especially when it feels like the recent November election is so fresh in mind. But in the February 2018 special election, 65 percent of Washington's registered voters are eligible to participate — that's 2,753,553 people. Voters from all but two counties have issues and/or races on the February ballot.

Student Mock Election results mirror statewide outcome

Each year, students across Washington get to participate in a mock election to show how they would vote on candidates and measures if given the chance in real life. The Mock Election is a non-partisan, educational event that teaches kids to be informed voters. Nearly 180,000 students have voted in Washington's annual Mock Election since 2004. Students vote on the same measures and candidates adults will decide. Not surprisingly, the student results were very similar to those of Washington's registered voters who participated: