Friday morning update

The Auditor's new tally last evening shows an additional 5,290 ballots counted, giving a voter turnout of 33%.  A few more ballots will be counted, but the tallys are now solid. 

No percentages have changed more than fractions of a point.  The Wednesday results just below still hold.  LuAnne has beaten Bill in the 42nd and will face Satpal in November and Bob Burr has a higher percentage than the incumbent for PUD.  Those are the two most important primary results for we citizens of Whatcom County. 

A comment here.  I will be doing a followup article in September on the taxpayer cost of the two person and one person primary elections that we just endured.  These are a huge waste of money - and of getting us to unnecessarily try to vote intelligently.  They are a scandal - and are 100% due to the corruptive power of the Republican and Democratic parties in our state legislature.  The parties control our state government - not the legislators - and certainly not the voters.  Our initiative to have top two primaries is being undermined by the political party operatives who care not a bit about what we voters want.  The two parties work together - collaborate closely - in maintaining their power over the people, the voters, - we citizens. 

The second absurdity is an election in August.  We want to play, recreate, escape and have fun during this brief best part of our year.  The primary used to be in June - but the political parties wanted it in August - and so they ordered their lackeys, our elected state representatives, to make it so.  The solution is either a September primary or the Instant Runoff Election in November.   Combined with eliminating the 2 person primaries, these changes could reduce election costs and help all of us to make better choices in voting. 

But nothing will happen unless we run a couple more state wide initiatives.  We citizens need to take control.  We might start by hammering all five of our Whatcom County state representatives about these issues during the political forums this fall.  Watch them squirm.  Democrats and Republicans.  Lets ask them as a group of five to introduce legislation to end the 2 person primaries.  And then watch them duck and bob and weave.   

Wed, Aug 6, evening update

Our auditor, Debbie Adelstein, has posted up today’s ballot totals and what has changed. 

The numbers.  3,628 more ballots were counted today, and maybe 6,000 more votes will be counted this week.  The voter turnout is now up to 29%, up from the 26% of last night - and by the end we should have a 33% turnout.  Normal to slightly low for a primary.   

Whatcom County Auditor election results webpage

- Bob Burr increased his lead slightly from 44% to 45% in the PUD race, while both Goggins and McClure slipped fractions of a percent, with McClure now at 43%.  As McClure is the incumbent, this continues to be big show by Burr.

- LuAnne VanWerven continues to comfortably lead Bill Knutzen with 33.8% to 22.5%.  She has cemented her win over Bill Knutzen in the 42nd for state legislature.  She and Satpall Sidhu will run in the November election.  Satpal has done very well in this primary and with his very positive campaigning style he has an excellent chance of being elected.  His percentage of the vote went up from 39% to 40% - while LuAnne’s went down a half percent - with the result that his lead over her is now up to 6%.  But the other three candidates split the conservative and Republican vote, so Satpall faces a real challenge in November.

- Susan DelBene holds a 51% lead today in her reelection bid to the US Congress.  There are two Republicans neck and neck to challenger her in November - Pedro Celis and Bob Sutherland.  Pedro leads in Whatcom County but for a true picture we need to check the State website as that 1st district spreads across four - 4 - counties.  It is a gerrymandered district - just as the 2nd district of Rick Larsen is. District wide, Bob Sutherland has a slight lead on Pedro Celis - his lead having slipped to less than a percentage point - 15.8% to 15.5%.  The Republicans poured money into Pedro’s race, so if Sutherland does win, this will a huge upset.  The winner faces Democrat Susan in November.

Secretary of State Election Results

Those are the hot primary races.  All others are beauty contests.   Expensive beauty contests and we taxpayers are footing many tens of thousands of dollars for these, subsidizing the Republican and Democratic parties in their campaigns.  Where is Tim Eyman when we have a real issue of tax dollar waste?  Our legislature - controlled by the parties - will never eliminate these meaningless primaries.  We need a people’s initiative.

So - on the the general election.

Update Wed morn, 8:30 am

Just finished being interviewed on KGMI by Dillon Honcoop about the election results.  Want to clarify one response I gave.  I said Doug Ericksen should have gotten 60% or more of the vote to be safe and his 56% was low enough to give Seth Fleetwood a chance.  Many of us did not expect Seth to get even 40%.  Yet he got  43% - he exceeded what was the expectation.  This was a great showing by Seth.  Regardless of what Doug says, he sees Seth as a very serious challenger.  

Auditor Election Results page

State Election Results - for two US congressional seats

Original post - Tue eve 8:23 pm

Bob Burr is in the general election for the PUD - Public Utility District.  Bob Burr has 44% to the incumbent Jeffrey McClure's 43%.  Awesome show by Burr.  Burr's race to lose from now on.  People want the PUD to be more transparent and to look at more services to county folks - beyond the few big corporations they serve now.  

Satpal Sidhu has 39% for 42nd state district - the replacement for Overstreet - and leads Luanne VanWerven, who has 34%.  They will be the finalists.  But Luanne has the real lead in this race as she split the vote with two other conservatives.  It is Luanne's race to lose in the November general.

Those are the two races that were of value.  Here is the meaningless beauty contest.

Seth Fleetwood polled 43% against Doug Ericksen's 57%.  This is a huge showing for Seth and will give the Ericksen team a jolt.  For Seth to poll over 40% makes him a serious challenger to Doug.  

I recommend for futhrer analysis that you check out Riley Sweeney's Political Junkie site.  Riley is live with the Ds at Chuckanut Brewery.  Tis a good election night for the liberals.  Will last year's surprising sweep of Whatcom County seats be repeated this November?  There is a good chance given tonight's results.  

Herald early report is posted.  They totally miss the PUD race.  Incredible.