Novoselic and Anderson Announce Their Candidacies

Krist Novoselic and Julie Anderson announced their candidacies yesterday.

Novoselic, former bass player for Nirvana and current Chairman of Fairvote, is running for Wahkiahum County Clerk and "prefers Grange Party". Novoselic's candidacy appears to be a protest against the Top 2 system which prevents private associations from controlling the use of their name on the ballot. Novoselic is the Grangemaster of the Gray's River Grange and he has opposed the Grange's support of the Top 2 election system in the state of Washington. Part of the point of Novoselic's candidacy is the lack of ability of the Grange to control who signs up to represent their group on the ballot.

Novoselic prefers the ballot access system embedded in Pierce County's RCV charter provision. This system allows ready access for independents and third party candidates while allowing the parties and other groups to control who uses their name on the ballot.

Anderson, Deputy Mayor of Tacoma, has announced her candidacy for Pierce County Auditor. While the position is non-partisan, Anderson is a well known Democrat and will have the support of the Pierce County Democrats, but she will be working to get the support of others as well. The other candidate in the race so far is Jan Shabro, a well known Republican. Shabro was appointed to replace Pat McCarthy as Auditor earlier this year by the Republican dominated County Council. This should be an interesting race as both candidates are well known politicians in the county.

According to Anderson's website, "I’m running for Auditor because Pierce County deserves fair and practical leadership that is directly accountable to the voters – not political parties. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome with the right mix of pragmatism, imagination and hard work. And there is no government that can function without an informed and engaged citizenry." She will be emphasizing her non-partisan public service as a member of the Tacoma City Council as compared to Shabro's partisan positions.