November 5, 2019 General Election

Well, its time for another edition of Marianne’s Politiblog. If somehow the 2019 elections were not on your radar because we’re all so focused on 2020, this is the reminder that you need.

One thing that this year’s election has been driving home to me is that it is possible (and sometimes inevitable) to make choices nobody likes. If you go one way, supporters of the opposite hate you. If you go the other, supporters of the first feel betrayed. I don’t like that. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about that other than to make my reasoning as clear as possible.

I have arranged the blog so you get the statewide issues first, then north Whidbey, central Whidbey, south Whidbey, and Camano. The idea was to save you, the reader, from plowing through all sorts of stuff not relevant to your area. On the other hand, if you enjoy reading my snark, have fun. If you're in a real hurry, you can skip down to the bottom of each race to find my choice highlighted in red. Of course I will consider that cheating, since I really do want people to know who and what they're voting for. 

Ok, here are the basics: 

First, you need to know that you are registered to vote. To check, go to https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/MyVote/#/login 

Ballots will be mailed by October 18, 2019. If you don’t have one in hand by about the 21^st or so, contact the elections office. The postal service has been abysmally slow recently, and you want to be sure you get your ballot in a timely fashion.   

The deadline for registering on line or for changing name or address is October 28. If you miss that deadline you will have to go to the Elections Office at 400 N Main Street in Coupeville. For more information call 360-679-7366 or email   elections@co.island.wa.us 

They’re open 8:00 – 4:30   Monday - Friday

The Elections Office tells us that ballots must be postmarked on or before election day, November 5. The League of Women Voters has informed us that the Postal Service is being less than helpful. Ballots dropped in mailboxes in Island County get shipped to Seattle for processing, and are usually postmarked the next day. Which means your ballot would be postmarked too late.   So if you drop your ballot in the mail on November 5 it may very well not be counted. NOT GOOD!

There are several solutions.

1. Get your ballot in the mail by Monday, November 4.

2. If you can’t do it before November 5, take it to the counter and ask the postal clerk to hand stamp it. And no, you don’t need to put a stamp on it, but you do need to get there by closing time, between 4:00 and 4:30.  Check your local post office.

3. Drop it in one of the 6 ballot drop boxes before 8:00 pm on Tuesday, November 5. They are located at:

    

    Island County Elections Office

    400 N Main Street    Coupeville

    Trinity Lutheran Church

    18341 Hwy 525    Freeland

    Ken’s Corner Shopping Center

    4141 Hwy 525 (at Langley Road)    Clinton

    Island County Camano Annex

    121 N East Camano Drive    Camano Island

    Langley Post Office, front patio

    115  2nd Street        Langley

    Oak Harbor City Hall

    865 SE Barrington    Oak Harbor

If you haven’t received a ballot by October 22, contact the Elections office.

And here is Marianne’s regular disclaimer: I would never presume to tell you how to vote. That is very much your business. I’m merely telling you how I intend to vote (or how I would vote if I could in any particular race) and why. You can make your own decisions from there.

Whatever else you do, VOTE. And encourage, hassle, bug, and convince everyone you know to vote as well. Feel free to forward information about the blog to all and sundry. And while this may not appear to be the most earth-shattering of elections, it is nevertheless important. 

This year I’ve tried something different. Rather than do the tedious legwork of researching every candidate for every position, I have done several things:

1. If someone is running unopposed I am not researching them or making a recommendation – unless the candidate happens to be a friend or someone I think deserves mention. Several candidates returned the questions and then their opponent dropped out. I chose to post their answers anyway, since they'd gone to the trouble.

2. I sent out a series of questions to all candidates for contested positions. A fair number responded. I sent second and even third notices. I will be posting the responses – and we’ll just have to see how those who didn’t bother to respond fare. 

3. This is the important change. I have re-arranged the order of the blog parts. Note the long list of entries. Since I can’t get all of this in a single post, there is a whole series - 17 of them, all relevant to this election. There is one set of state-wide issues applicable to everyone. Then there are sub-sets for different regions. Unless you are a masochist and want to see what is happening around the county, you can save time by just focusing on your particular region.

There are a lot of positions open, but most of them are pretty small and local – water districts, fire districts, etc. Here’s the long list:

North Whidbey/Oak Harbor

Oak Harbor City Council

Oak Harbor Mayor

Oak Harbor School District

North Whidbey Fire & Rescue District

North Whidbey Pool, Park, & Recreation District

Cemetery District #1 (Oak Harbor)

Swantown Water District

Penn Cove Water & Sewer District

Central Whidbey/Coupeville

Coupeville Town Council

Coupeville Mayor

Coupeville School District

Port of Coupeville

Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue District

Admiral’s Cove Water District

Cemetery District #2 (Coupeville)

Crockett Lake Water District

Rhodena Beach Water District

South Whidbey/Langley

South Whidbey School District

Port of South Whidbey

South Whidbey Parks & Recreation District

South Whidbey Fire & EMS District

Langley City Council

Langley Mayor

Clinton Water District

Scatchet Head Sewer District

Scatchet Head Water District

Freeland Water & Sewer District
Main Street Sewer District (Freeland)

Holmes Harbor Sewer District

Lagoon Point Water District

Ledgewood Beach Water District

Bayview Beach Water District

Camano

Stanwood School District

Fire District #1 (Camano)

Camano Vista Water District

Juniper Beach Water District

Port of Mabana

County-wide?

Public Hospital District

Obviously you will not see all of these on your ballot, just the ones relevant to where you live.

Here are the questions I put to the candidates:

1. Why are you running for this particular position

2. What do you hope to accomplish in this position? 

If an incumbent, what have you accomplished.                                                                                                                                 3. What problems do you see that you expect to correct or alleviate?                                                                                                      4. What relevant experience do you have?                                                                                                                                                5. What will be your operating philosophy in office?                                                                                                                               6. What message would you like to convey to voters?

And then there are the ballot issues. Good ole Tim Eyman has made our lives ever so much better by forcing the “advisory votes” onto the ballot. This time there are no fewer than 12. These are the terribly worded questions as to whether we like the actions of the legislature in the past year. They have no actual effect, other than to waste a lot of time, energy, and money. That’s Eyman for you. There are two other Eyman issues on the ballot, one is an initiative. The other is a referendum to reverse an earlier Eyman initiative. And finally, there is a Senate Joint Resolution to amend the state Constitution. I’ll explain it all when I get that far. 

There are also several local ballot issues, all of them contentious. Oak Harbor is asking for money for infrastructure/road repair. Langley is asking for money for infrastructure repair and expansion, and the South Whidbey Parks & Rec district is asking for money to acquire some more land. 

Ok, time to dive in.