On the Ballot: Moving King County elections to even years
This week the King County Council voted to change how we vote in King County.
Here鈥檚 a hint: they want election years to be divisible by two.
King County has approved a charter amendment that would move the generally non-partisan county elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years. This would allow them to coincide with bigger elections 鈥 like the vote for president or governor.
Voters will decide whether the amendment happens this November.
As , this would mean a larger turnout of voters.
In 2021鈥檚 county executive race between Dow Constantine and Joe Nguyen, the turnout was roughly 573,000 voters. In contrast, the prosecuting attorney鈥檚 election in 2018 had a turnout of 968,000 voters.
But that larger number means a wider diversity of voters as well, and those extra voters usually lean more progressive.
鈥淚f you have a younger, less affluent electorate participating in local elections, you'd assume that would open up space for issues that might not be heard as much in a low turnout electorate,鈥 explained Western Washington University Political Science Professor Todd Donovan.