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King County Elections has been apparently working with one fucking abacus between them. The ballot drop for Seattle votes was 56,000 strong today.
We kid, King County Elections. We value an accurate count of the ballots. Really, you’ve done enough counting to make a vampire blush. And you’re on track (see below), we’re just so impatient at this point.
KATIE WILSON, OR KATIE WONTSON?
As we wrote yesterday, Katie Wilson needed roughly 55 percent of the ballot count from Thursday onward. Since then, King County Elections has gotten its mitts on more ballots, so she’ll need slightly less than that.
And? Wilson took 54.85 percent.
THE SISKELS AND EBERTS OF POLITICS
These talking heads are not our beautiful house, nor are they our beautiful wives, but they are the ones with their fingers on the pulse. And, they’re willing to opine on the intangible, so we are going to keep talking to them.
Crystal Fincher, consultant and host of the Hacks & Wonks: “Game on. Wilson is currently on pace to overtake Harrell. Of course, counts aren’t predetermined and the percentage could vary. However, historically votes continue to trend more progressive in the in these counts. That’s also why I was saying that a larger count yesterday could have had a larger percentage for Katie.”
Stephen Paolini, who is affiliated with Katie Wilson’s PAC: “That’s enough for Katie to win. This race will end within a quarter of a percent with Katie ahead. Bruce now needs Katie to win a smaller share of remaining even more progressive votes in order to hold on. Press F to doubt.” (Before the drop, he was not as happy: “Instead of an I voted sticker I think King County Elections should start handing out tums for voting to help with my nausea.”)
Michael Fertakis, who works with the Girmay Zahilay and Steffanie Fain campaigns: “[Wilson is] not out of the woods but this is definitely a very positive sign and further evidence of this race likely coming down to a few hundred votes.”
Ben Anderstone, who worked on Sara Nelson’s campaign: “Katie got basically exactly what she needed today, maybe a nudge more.” After a (text) pause. “Actually, more than she needed probably. I think Katie probably wins. I don’t want to call it impulsively, but.”
A LITTLE MORE ROCK SOLID ANALYSIS FROM MR. ANDERSTONE:
This is our life now. Anderstone texted us at 10:29 p.m. last night to tell us that a ton of the late ballots were from “Katie-friendly” neighborhoods (renters, less affluent, etc.), so the leftward swing could be “even stronger than usual.” It’s a good omen for her.
FIX THAT FUCKING BALLOT!
This election is going to be close. It could come down to those challenged ballots riddled with signatures either messed up or missing. At blog time, 1,920 Seattle ballots were in approval limbo due to these issues. Of those, 66 percent belong to voters 44-years-old and younger. According to polling, that age group likely voted for Wilson. Here’s how you can fix your fucked up ballot.
GIR-MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE? (WE KNOW HOW GIRMAY IS PRONOUNCED)
Girmay Zahliay is at 53.27 percent. That’s a 1.52 percent gain from yesterday.
We’re unsurprised. Zahilay’s campaign has not officially declared victory, but it has released a press release saying his transition team was getting to work right away. We think that’s basically the same fucking thing, but his campaign disagrees. They’ll probably definitively declare victory after this. Balducci is stuck in 45.53 percent hell.
UPDATE: Balducci conceded after this story initially published.
KICK ROCKS KEVIN
Good news, everyone. Rep. Edwin Obras has officially left Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling in the dust. Sorry, Burien, you’re stuck with this guy. Today, Obras is at 50.57 percent. Yesterday, he was 0.88 percent lower. Schilling sunk. Funny how that works. He’s at 47.72 percent, almost a full percentage point less than his total yesterday. Bye, bye, Schilling.
THE COUNTING HAS BEEN SLOWER THAN USUAL, RIGHT?
Wrong. Apparently this isn’t slower than normal, according to Halei Watkins at King County Elections. Normal? Three days since the election and no mayor?
Our fickle, short term memories can only recall 2024, a presidential, even-year election when people voted steadily, earlier. In odd year elections, people tend to hoard their ballots until election day. And because of that, King County Elections has to deal with a “crush of Election Day ballots.” This year is actually on pace with the returns of 2021 and 2023, according to Watkins. The main difference is turnout sucked those years. In 2023, it was 38 percent. This year, county turnout is 45 percent. In Seattle, it’s at 55 percent.
“With over 650,000 ballots returned in this election, it takes time to get them all verified and processed and through all of the steps,” Watkins wrote in an email.
We believe that. We believe women. But it still feels so slow and that makes us complain-y. We are rotting in purgatory. In a city-wide will-they-won’t-they between a good future and a bad one.
At this point, we just want to know. Maybe the groundhog that Bill DeBlasio didn’t kill can help us with this. Or that TikTok “bones day” pug, Noodle. (Fuck! He’s dead, too!!) After today, 45,000 Seattle ballots are left.