Election workers prepare ballots for scanning at the Thurston County Auditor’s Office. (Laurel Demkovich/Washington State Standard)
Happy Election Day!
Washington voters are casting ballots for dozens of state, local and federal candidates, four ballot initiatives that could dramatically change the state’s climate and tax policies, and of course, a new president.
Our state’s results won’t be released until 8:00 PM Pacific Time. When they go live, the Standard will have that too coverage of key races and responses from Republican and Democratic state caucuses. We also have real-time election results on our website for most state and congressional contests.
Ballots will be accepted until 8:00 PM PT on Election Day. You can find the locations of the polls and voting centers on the website of the State Secretary. You can visit De Standaard’s voter guide for more information on key races across the state.
Follow along here throughout the day for updates and happy voting!
Important events
2 minutes ago
‘I hate this division’
16 minutes ago
On the way to the door
2 hours ago
Calling the watch
3 hours ago
Heated words
3 hours ago
Taking the mood out
2 minutes ago
‘I hate this division’
Bruk Alkadir, 32, a Democrat, voted for Kamala Harris because he believes she is the more unifying of the two presidential candidates. “I hate the division we have today. I don’t think there is one government that will solve all our problems. If we give each other the benefit of the doubt, we live better,” Alkadir said after casting his vote at a drop box in Seattle’s International District.
Last updated: 3:39 PM
16 minutes ago
On the way to the door
Before the results start rolling in, we want to remind you of some of them the legislative and executive heavyweights who are not coming back.
Governor Jay Inslee is stepping down after 12 years as insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler stops after six terms. The two Democrats cap off lengthy careers in Washington politics, having both served in the state Legislature and Congress before winning their current executive jobs in the state.
Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig is one of nine senators we know won’t be back. Billed and venerable Democratic colleagues Sam Hunt and Karen Keizer are retiring. That includes Republican Senators Lynda Wilson, Mike Padden, Ann Rivers and Brad Hawkins.
Keizer will leave in December, halfway through her current term, so an appointment to the seat will take place after her departure.
Meanwhile, Democrats Mark Mullet and Kevin Van De Wege will also have disappeared. All chose to run for statewide office in lieu of reelection — Mullet as governor and Van De Wege as land commissioner — but neither made it past the primary.
Two more openings will be added soon. That’s because two senators, Democrat Emily Randall and Republican Drew MacEwen, are vying for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and two others, Democrat Patty Kuderer and Republican Phil Fortunato, are vying for the position of insurance commissioner. The winners of those races will vacate their Senate seats.
In the House of Representatives, Democrat Frank Chopp, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and perhaps one of the most influential legislators in the state’s history, is retiring.
Five Republican representatives – JT Wilcox, Joel Kretz, Spencer Hutchins, Bruce Chandler and Gina Mosbrucker – are also hanging their legislative measures.
Last updated: 3:32 PM
2 hours ago
Calling the watch
Washington, like the rest of the country, is alert to potential election and post-election problems.
There has been one high-profile incident recently in the state. It happened on October 28 in Vancouver when an incendiary device damaged and destroyed hundreds of ballots in a mailbox. The FBI is investigating along with local and state authorities and no arrests have been made.
Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday activated the Washington National Guard “to ensure that we are fully prepared to respond” to potential civil unrest or violence. They will be on standby until midnight Thursday and available to assist local law enforcement and the State Patrol.
As of Monday afternoon, the Guard had received no requests for assistance.
3 hours ago
Heated words
In the final round of elections, the Republican state sparked a political firestorm with texts attacking the three Democratic candidates in central Washington’s 14th Legislative District.
This is the district that a federal judge redrawn to resolve a voting rights case, and it went from safely Republican to favorably for Democrats.
In short, the party, led by chairman and state lawmaker Jim Walsh, sent text messages to about 7,500 Hispanic voters on Friday claiming that Latina Democratic candidates “support the chemical castration of your children at school without your knowledge or consent.”
The Spanish-language message also claimed that Maria Beltran, who is running for Senate, and Ana Ruiz Kennedy and Chelsea Dimas, who are running for the House of Representatives, “reject God’s design of two sexes and want to confuse your children about the question whether they are boys.” or girls.”
“They hate you, they hate your family, they hate God and they hate the truth,” reads another line.
Democratic Party leaders and candidates rejected the texts. Walsh did not push back on the messages. But some Republican Party leaders and Republican Sen. Curtis King, who is running against Beltran, disavowed the texts.
You can read a full story about the furor here.
On Monday, the state Democratic Party filed a complaint to the Public Disclosure Commission blaming the GOP party violated provisions of the State Campaign Financing Act prohibiting the use of statements that are knowingly false and defamatory and that may expose someone to hatred, contempt or ridicule.
Walsh said in a statement that Democratic leaders and their allies are “panicking” that their candidates are losing. “Why? Because those candidates do not represent the values of the people and families who live in that district,” he said.
Last updated: 2:49 PM
3 hours ago
Taking the mood out
As voters weighed their choices in recent weeks, political parties in Washington were focused on getting as many people as possible to vote.
The state Democratic Party held voting rallies in Washington from October 31 through Election Day. At each stop, elected officials gathered with party volunteers, who then went outside and knocked on doors or made phone calls.
At an event in Olympia on Sunday, about 50 volunteers heard from state elected officials and candidates, as well as two Washington congresswomen up for re-election this year.
Volunteers took signs and stickers, learned to canvas, took photos and gathered with chants of “When we fight, we win!”
While turnout lagged four years ago, party leaders and elected officials reminded volunteers of the importance of the final push toward Tuesday.
“There are ballots on kitchen tables right now,” said Democratic Party Chairman Shasti Conrad. “It matters. All these conversations are important.”
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell thanked organizers for the work they did in Thurston County, where some voters live in the nearby 3rd Congressional District. The race between Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican Joe Kent is one of a few in the country expected to decide control of the House of Representatives.
“We need to get out there and clean up that area,” Cantwell said. “We have to get people to vote.”
Meanwhile, across the political aisle, a few hardy souls from the Washington State Republican Party gathered in the wind and rain on the Capitol steps for the same purpose a week earlier.
“We need to show people and believe that their vote matters,” party chairman Jim Walsh implored the dozens of attendees. Attendees included Republican candidates for attorney general, state treasurer, secretary of state and the 8th Congressional District.
Walsh and Glenn Morgan, a conservative activist and founder of We, the Rulerspraised the practice of ballot harvesting, which essentially helps other voters by collecting and returning their ballots.
“Our state allows ballot harvesting,” Morgan said. “You will make a bigger difference than you realize.”
Mathew Patrick Thomas, chairman of the King County Republican Party, urged attendees to get 10 friends and family members to vote and then get 10 more.
“Don’t sit on the sidelines. Be excited and let’s go win this thing,” he said.
Last updated: 12:18 pm
