Ballots flowing (or trickling)

Alex Cnossen

Alex Cnossen Jun 28, 2025

Jan 12, 2018

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                <h1>Ballots flowing (or trickling)</h1>
                <h2><p>Seattle's new system of district elections for most city council positions has created considerable buzz. But according to King County's ballot return statistics, it isn't attracting any particular surge in voters compared with the rest of King County. In the city of Seattle, there</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/alex-cnossen-crosscut-com/">Alex Cnossen</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Seattle's new system of district elections for most city council positions has created considerable buzz. But according to King County's <a href="https://info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/ballotreturnstats/default.aspx?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">ballot return statistics</a>, it isn't attracting any particular surge in voters compared with the rest of King County. In the city of Seattle, there are over 414,300 registered voters, as of July 21, 2015. The latest stats, however, show there's been a paltry 34,639 ballots turned in — that's a little over 8.3 percent, essentially the same as for the county as a whole.</p><p>The only one of the new districts where more than 10 percent have voted? District 3, home of Kshama Sawant.</p>
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Seattle's new system of district elections for most city council positions has created considerable buzz. But according to King County's ballot return statistics, it isn't attracting any particular surge in voters compared with the rest of King County. In the city of Seattle, there are over 414,300 registered voters, as of July 21, 2015. The latest stats, however, show there's been a paltry 34,639 ballots turned in — that's a little over 8.3 percent, essentially the same as for the county as a whole.

The only one of the new districts where more than 10 percent have voted? District 3, home of Kshama Sawant.

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By Alex Cnossen

Alex Cnossen is a Northwest native and has worked for several local publications, including KOMO, KIRO and KING-TV. He grew up in Portland and loves to run and write. Follow him on Twitter @CnossenAle