Burlington, Vermont, Elk Hunting, and Ranked Choice Voting

by Krist Novoselic, Chair of Fairvote and resident of Naselle, Washington

On March 3rd, Burlington Vermont had an RCV election. The mayor’s race shared a similar dynamic to the Pierce County Executive election. Burlington had five candidates and Pierce had four. Pierce had two Democrats, while Burlington had a Progressive Party along with a Democratic Party candidate – again similar.

The race went into an instant runoff and the incumbent mayor won with over 51 percent. Since they all vote at the polls, they knew the winner at 8:25pm.

It’s important to note how civil the campaigns were. A Democratic city councilor said the candidates were forthright and the race was, “the most respectful and informative campaign in Burlington in a long time.”

I advocate reforms like RCV out of altruism. The idea is to make the democratic experience more inclusive and compelling. It makes me feel good that the Burlington experience was so positive.

I get a lot of visitors down here on the mouth of the Columbia during elk hunting season. Last fall, most everybody told me how they were ready for the election to be over. It was like, “I’m sick of the TV ads!” They were tired of the negative campaigning. I even know PETA supporting vegans who grew weary with the election season - so the feeling was universal!

The Burlington experience is a clear reason of why RCV – there was a lot less negative campaigning. And as we’ve seen in San Francisco, rival candidates were actually endorsing each other.

Pierce voters knew how to do RCV but there could have been a stronger effort with telling why. And nowhere is this more apparent than with the county auditor’s Flash RCV tutorial. It asks, WHY RCV? And only answers with – because voters approved it in 2006.

It’s indicative of the sleeper attitude with the issue among election administrators in Pierce and Olympia.

But back to my hunter friends, I never got a chance to tell them about RCV. I was too busy making sure they cut me in when they came back from the butcher! I bet they’d perk up if they knew there was an election system that encourages positive campaigning.

Vetting and Party Labels

At last night's League of Women Voters' forum on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) at the University of Puget Sound, there were comments made about the vetting of candidates by the parties and the value of such vetting. Some people seemed confused about what rights the parties have under the various elections systems we have.

In a partisan RCV race, the parties have the right to determine which candidates can use the party name on the ballot. In a partisan Top 2 race, the parties have no control over which candidates use their name on the ballot.

In the 2008 partisan RCV Pierce County Executive race, Pat McCarthy and Calvin Goings received permission from the Pierce County Democrats to run as Democrats. No other candidates appeared on the ballot as Democrats.

Shawn Bunney received permission to run as a Republican, but Mike Lonergan who also sought to run as a Republican was turned down at the County Convention. Bunney was the only candidate labelled a Republican on the ballot. This was the Republican vetting of the candidates. Now, Lonergan was able to run as a third party candidate, but he was not able to use the Republican label.

If the race had been a partisan Top 2 race, then Lonergan could have simply filed as "prefers Republican" and the Republican Party would have had no opportunity to vet him.

In a Top 2 race for State Legislature (36th District, Position 1), John Burbank was nominated by the Democratic Party, but Reuven Carlyle ran as "prefers Democratic Party." Carlyle won the race. If Carlyle leaves office before the end of his term, the Democrats do not even have the right to replace him since he was not their nominee.

Bottom line: If you want the parties to be able to vet the candidates, then RCV works and the Top 2 does not.

Voter Participation in Pierce County

Total voter turnout in Pierce County was very high in 2008 due to the presence of Barack Obama on the ballot. Partisan races had higher voter participation than non-partisan races. Contested races had higher voter participation than uncontested races. Since there were no uncontested Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) races, voter participation in partisan county level races increased from 2004 to 2008.

Partisan versus non-partisan races

In Pierce County, every statewide partisan race had higher voter participation than every statewide non-partisan race. At the county level, every partisan race had higher voter participation than every non-partisan race. This was particularly evident in the Assessor-Treasurer race which shifted from being partisan to non-partisan between 2004 and 2008. In the 2008 Assessor-Treasurer race, voter participation fell to a level between the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the judicial races.

It appears as if there are voters who will vote for a candidate simply based on the partisan affliation and who skip non-partisan races where they don't know the candidates.

Number of Candidates

In November 2004, there were five State Representative elections and two County Council elections in Pierce County which had just one candidate on the ballot. In November 2008, all of these races had two or three candidates on the November ballot. All of these races experienced significant increases in voter participation. This is not surprising since many voters skip uncontested races with just one candidate on the ballot.

In the 26th State Legislative District, there were three candidates on the ballot in each State Representative race in 2004. In 2008, there were only two candidates on the November ballot. Undervotes increased in these races.

In most of the statewide races, we saw an increase in undervotes from 2004 to 2008. We also saw most statewide and countywide races increase turnout as measured by percent of registered voters, but decrease as a percent of the presidential vote. One reason for this is the significant number of voters who just voted for President in 2008.

Another reason is the move to the Top 2 which restricts the numbers of candidates on the ballot in November. In 2004, there were at least three candidates on the ballot in most races. This appears to have allowed more voters to express their views.

Since there were no uncontested partisan RCV races, on average those partisan county level races moving to RCV experienced an increase in voter participation.

Conclusion

Voter participation is heavily driven by the excitement of a Presidential race. Down ballot partisan races experience higher voter participation than down ballot non-partisan races. Uncontested races generally do not experience high voter turnout. RCV generally has more candidates and fewer uncontested races. Eliminating the partisan/non-partisan and uncontested race effects, there was little difference in voter turnout between Top 2 and RCV elections in 2008.

Pierce County Democrats and the 2008 Elections

By Professor Richard Anderson-Connolly
University of Puget Sound
Member - 27th District Democrats

This is an open letter to Democrats in Pierce County


Democrats in Pierce County generally did worse than Democrats nationwide and around the state of Washington. Rather than beginning an honest discussion about the way to prevent a similar performance in the future, Party Chair Nathe Lawver is looking to switch the subject and scapegoat the electoral reform of Ranked Choice Voting.


Let’s consider the performance of Democrats locally:

In a Top-2 race current Democratic County Executive John Ladenburg lost his home county by 16% in the contest for state Attorney General. Ladenburg had a better showing in Klickitat County.

In a Top-2 race for the 8th Congressional seat Democrat Darcy Burner lost in Pierce County by 17%.

In a Top-2 race Democratic State Senator Marilyn Rasmussen (2nd Dist.) lost her seat to Republican challenger Randi Becker because she lost Pierce County. Rasmussen won in Thurston. This was the only seat in the state the Republicans took from the Democrats in the State Senate.

In a Top-2 race the Republicans picked up a house seat (26th Dist.) in the position left open by retiring Democrat Pat Lantz. The Democrat Kim Abel lost Pierce by 10% but Kitsap by only 3%.

In a Top-2 race for Commissioner of Public Lands Republican Doug Sutherland carried Pierce County by 9% even though he lost the statewide race to Democrat Peter Goldmark.

Tim Eyman’s initiative passed in exactly one county in the entire state – Pierce.


Yet what message does the Pierce County Democratic Party leadership want to us to take from these terrible results? Even though none of these was an RCV race we are told that RCV is the biggest problem for the party in the county. This is an embarrassingly obvious attempt to distract attention from the real issues with the local party.


Without some critical self-reflection by the party, 2010 and 2012 have the potential to be bad years for the Democrats locally. The next gubernatorial race may come down to Pierce County and we can’t simply rely on the Obama effect. I’m certain there are some nervous folks in Olympia who have made the same assessment of Pierce County. Clearly the Democratic Party does not have a winning message for Pierce County voters or else it is too poorly organized to get that message across.


In his post-election email Calvin Goings wrote that “it appears that because of Ranked Choice Voting, Pierce County will be a red mark on a blue state.” It’s unfortunate that Goings, as the most progressive candidate on many issues, didn’t have a better showing. But blaming the refs is not a progressive value. Almost certainly under a Top-2 system Goings would have been eliminated in August and his issues would have received less attention. If you have to lose, it’s better to lose in November.


And Lawver, when asked about the RCV election, described it as “rather cumbersome.” It’s disappointing that a chair of the Democratic Party actually can call a more democratic voting system “cumbersome.” I can think of many elements of our democracy that are cumbersome but fortunately many Democrats value outcomes like choice, transparency, and high voter participation.


In any case the “cumbersome” parts of this election were delays caused by the auditor’s office. The system was not tested at full volume and it was discovered only on election night that the computer needed more memory. Polling places were consolidated and the office was not prepared for the high volume. Still, these were minor issues, certainly compared to the delays with mail voting. For the most part Pat McCarthy did a decent job with the county’s first RCV election and a few simple improvements will make it run even better next time. (If the council appoints an auditor who actually supports RCV the improvements will almost certainly be done.)


Lawver, Goings, and McCarthy are all good people who have done good work as Democrats but they shouldn’t represent the party on the issue of RCV. Outside of Pierce County, the Democratic Party is typically the party of electoral reform. Barack Obama was the prime sponsor of RCV legislation when he was a State Senator in Illinois. Howard Dean, the chair of the National Democratic Party, supports RCV. So does Dennis Kucinich. And Jesse Jackson, Jr., who introduced federal RCV legislation. Al Franken supports RCV and would likely be a Senator now if Minnesota used it. The Democratically-controlled legislature of Vermont passed a bill to use RCV for federal offices but the bill was vetoed – by a Republican. The state parties of California, Colorado, Minneapolis, and Maine endorsed RCV. The local Democratic parties in San Francisco, Oakland, and Minneapolis – all cities that have passed RCV initiatives – supported it. And just this week our neighbors to the south – the Democratic Party of Oregon – made passage of a local option RCV bill a legislative priority. Every year more and more Democrats get behind RCV. (Of course Democrats don’t have a monopoly on electoral reform – John McCain also supported RCV.)


Let’s recognize that a fight against RCV comes with an opportunity cost: Truly progressive issues – like jobs and wages, civil liberties, the environment – must necessarily receive less time, energy, and money. Furthermore many new and young voters came into the Democratic Party because it promised progressive change, including issues like electoral reform. If many new Democrats had to pick between Obama, a supporter of RCV, and most local Democratic leaders, I don’t think it would be a close contest. Fighting RCV is a terrible way to keep the newly-energized progressive youth movement excited about the Democratic Party. Within a year the party will be nothing more than the same people repeating the same ideas that brought the county to its current state.


In the News Tribune, Peter Callaghan called it for what it is: The county party leaders are looking for a scapegoat, something to distract attention from their own poor performance. What he didn’t emphasize is that this is largely a problem for just one of the two parties – the Democrats. The Republicans have been far more reasonable. I have heard few complaints about the system from Bunney supporters. They knew the rules, fought the good fight, and lost a close one.


I hope that rank-and-file Democrats, the progressive base that does most of the work for the leadership, will refuse to go along with the scapegoating of RCV. Instead of blaming the system – an explanation that doesn’t fit the facts – Democrats need to engage in a deeper debate about the best way to recruit and build strong candidates.

Let’s focus on issues like health care, civil liberties, peace, full employment, and, yes, progressive electoral reforms. If we can offer Pierce County citizens policies that represent their values and interests then we will get our share of victories using a democratic voting system like RCV. If we ignore the important issues to spend our time fighting electoral reforms then we can count on the local party’s continuing decline even as the rest of the state and indeed the country become more Democratic.

Goings and Lonergan Eliminated in August

In June, Calvin Goings and Mike Lonergan filed to run for Pierce County Executive. Both had been running active campaigns prior to this time. The County Executive race was a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) race, and both candidates names went directly to the November general election ballot.

What would have happened if the County Executive race had been a Top 2 race like the state legislative races around the state?

All four candidates (Pat McCarthy, Shawn Bunney, Goings and Lonergan) would have filed to run. All four candidates would have appeared on the August primary ballot. And Goings and Lonergan would have been eliminated from the ballot after the primary. The first choices of voters in the November general election indicate that Bunney and McCarthy would have been the Top 2 candidates in the August primary.

The face-off between Bunney and McCarthy would have left the campaign less diverse and less lively. 38% of the voters had Goings or Lonergan as their first choice. These voters would have been disenfranchised by the Top 2 system.

This is particularly true of the Pierce County Democratic Party establishment; most of whom supported Goings' candidacy. Many of these Democrats were very disappointed by the strong relationship of both McCarthy and Bunney to the pro-development crowd. It was better for democracy for those Democrats to be able to express their views by supporting Goings all the way through the campaign.

The elimination of Goings and Lonergan in August would have happened with the Top 2. It would have weakened democracy. RCV strengthened the democratic process.

McCarthy still leading County Executive race

Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy saw her lead shrink in the preliminary results published tonight, but the lead appears to be significant enough to hold up through further vote counting.

In the results published Tuesday night, McCarthy's lead over Pierce County Council member Shawn Bunney was 8507 votes after the allocation of Mike Lonergan and Calvin Goings' supporters' second choices. Tonight the lead had shrunk to 6695 votes. This represented a significant decline in the percentage lead, but Bunney will need stage a big swing in the remaining ballots to overcome McCarthy's 6695 vote lead.

McCarthy is still receiving more support from Lonergan and Goings supporters than Bunney. The big margin amongst Goings supporters was expected since both McCarthy and Goings are Democrats. Lonergan, though, tried to run as a Republican, but was rejected. One would have expected that Lonergan supporters would mostly be Republicans, but McCarthy and Goings were getting the majority of the second choices.

The schedule calls for these results to be updated again next Friday. Given the closeness of the race, it would be good if the Elections Department added a Monday or Tuesday update to this race.

Pierce County Republicans surge as Poll Votes Counted

Last evenings' posted preliminary results posted by the Pierce County Auditor's Office showed Republican percentages moving up in several close races around the county. The votes counted over the last couple of days represent mostly poll votes and it is unclear whether this surge will continue when the counting of the poll votes is complete and we move back to counting exclusively the late arriving mail-in ballots.

County Executive race tightens

In the Pierce County Executive race, Republican Pierce County Council member Shawn Bunney's lead in first choices has moved from just under 3% on election night to about 6 3/4% as of last night. This will likely result in a substantial narrowing of Democrat Pat McCarthy's lead in the RCV race.

In Tuesday night's tabulation of results, McCarthy picked up substantial second choices from Mike Lonergan and Calvin Goings supporters. Tomorrow night we will get another opportunity to see the RCV tabulation. It will be interesting to see if the poll supporters of Lonergan and Goings gave their second choices to McCarthy.

This analysis will be possible due to the release of a ballot image file with the poll ballots in the file. (As of Tuesday's listing the Auditor's office had only counted mail-in ballots received before Tuesday.)

This race appears to still be too close to call.

Close County Council races

In the open Pierce County Council, District #2 race, Republican Joyce McDonald saw her percentage of first choices rise to 47.64%. This is sufficiently close to 50%, it will make it difficult for Democrat Al Rose to catch her with second choices from Carolyn Merrival's supporters.

In Tuesday night's preliminary results posting, Republican incumbent Pierce County Council member Roger Bush (District #3) trailed his Democratic opponent Bruce Lachney by over a percentage point. As of last night's posting, Bush had pulled ahead by over 2 percent. This two-way race is still too close to call.

Meanwhile, Democrat Tim Farrell and Republican Dick Muri are cruising to easy re-election in their County Council races.

Assessor-Treasurer race too close to call

The nonpartisan Assessor-Treasurer's race is still way too close to call. Four candidates (Barbara Gelman, Dale Washam, Jan Shabro and Terry Lee) still have a shot at winning. This race will not be determined until at least a week from now.

Last night's tabulation appeared to only take about 30 minutes including the time for checking the results. It appears as if increasing the memory of the computers has substantially sped up the generation of results as compared to Tuesday night.

McCarthy in lead for Pierce County Executive race

In the hotly contested Pierce County Executive race, Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy (D-Tacoma) has a solid lead Pierce County Councilmember Shawn Bunney (R-Bonney Lake) after the allocation of the second choices of Pierce County Councilmember Calvin Goings' (D-Puyallup) and Tacoma City Councilmember Mike Lonergan's (E-Tacoma) supporters.

The vote count had a couple of surprises in the preliminary Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) results. Lonergan, running as the Executive Excellence candidate, had a very strong showing of 14+% of the first choices in the four-way RCV race. This is quite a strong showing for a third party candidate in such a crowded field.

More surprising was that Lonergan supporters gave more second choices to McCarthy than to Bunney. Since Lonergan made a valiant effort to run as a Republican, many guessed most of his supporters would list Bunney as a second choice. In early results, this was not true. If McCarthy continues to receive most of Lonergan's supporters second choices, she is the likely winner.

Calvin Goings endorsed Pat McCarthy as his second choice, but many of his more active supporters bashed McCarthy for accepting the endorsement of the Master Builders Association of Pierce County. Despite the animosity between the two camps, McCarthy is receiving 79% of Goings supporters' second choices.

The combination of Lonergan and Goings supporters' second choices looks like it will be enough for McCarthy to overcome Bunney's lead in first choices. More votes need to be counted, but this is a strong lead.

Historic Ranked Choice Voting Election in Pierce County

Pierce County voters are about to participate in an historic Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) election for county officials. Voters will have more choices and will be able to order their choices. Voters will be able to choose the person, not the party, if they want to do so. RCV ensures that we get majority winners in each election. It is an exciting path-breaking event in our history.

More Choices When It Matters

In the race for Pierce County Executive, voters will have four solid candidates from whom to choose. The Assessor-Treasurer race has six candidates. The Sheriff and District #2, County Council races have three candidates each in them. This is in stark contrast to the state level elections where there will be only one or two candidates on the ballot.

There are more third party and independent candidates on the November ballot than the rest of the state combined. Independent voters in North Tacoma will have Ken Paulson as a choice for County Council. Mike Lonergan is running as a third party candidate for County Executive.

Vote Your Heart

In these races, voters will be allowed to list their first, second and third choices. In the County Executive race, if you love candidate A, like candidate B, can live with candidate C and loath candidate D, you, as a voter, can list A as your first choice, B as your second choice and C as your third choice. No need to worry about throwing the race to candidate D. No need to settle for second or third best, because "they have the best chance to win." Vote your heart in these ranked choice elections.

Majority Winners

In a RCV election, if one candidate receives a majority of the first choice votes, then that candidate is the winner. If no candidate receives a majority of the first choice votes, then the candidate with the fewest first choices is eliminated and those votes are allocated based on the voters' second choices.

If after this allocation a candidate has a majority of the votes, that candidate wins. If not, repeat the process until one candidate has a majority. This process ensures a majority winner and prevents candidates from winning with less than a majority of the voters supporting that candidate.

Remember to Fill Out the Separate Ballot

This will be the first November election with more than one ballot card in Pierce County. Be sure to fill out both the traditional ballot card and the Ranked Choice Voting card and return both in the envelope.

Make sure you read the voters' pamphlet for the instructions. The Elections Department has done a good job of explaining how to fill out your ballot for these races.

Participate in History

This RCV election is, by far, the largest implementation of RCV in a partisan election in the US. Have fun with it. Vote your heart. People throughout the country see Pierce County as a leader in election reform. And you get to participate.

Muri's Musings on the Pierce County Executive Race

For more information on the County Executive race, see here.

By Pierce County Councilmember Dick Muri (R-Steilacoom)

2008 is a very interesting election year in our state and nationwide, but as interesting is our unique election contest for Pierce County Executive. This is the only Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) election in our nation which includes partisan offices.

The citizens committee which introduced RCV as a proposed county charter amendment legislation back in 2006 and which subsequently passed the voters in November 2006, has resulted in a new kind of campaign. One theory of why RCV is a better system is that it will lead to more cordial elections than Top 2 races. This is because if you are not someone's first choice, at least you want to be a voter's second choice. The campaign for county executive has not fully met this objective, though the campaigns are calm and polite compared to the governors contest.

Calvin Goings and Pat McCarthy have been campaigning against each other and automated telephone calls from the Mike Lonergan campaign sort of attacking Shawn Bunney's fiscal record were by my political thinking unexpected. My advice to Shawn Bunney from day one of his quest to be our next executive has been to take the high road, discuss his exemplary qualifications and to articulate a positive vision for Pierce County. Shawn has done that and for that reason his chance of winning this election have increased. The News Tribune Endorsement may be somewhat attributed to his positive and enthusiastic vision for our county.

In June of this year, after candidate filing, I made a confidential prediction on election results to a work colleague of mine which I will announce here with my reasoning. I predicted the results of first choice votes would be Bunney 38%, McCarthy 28%, Goings 22%, and Lonergan 12%. I figures Shawn would get the base GOP vote of 42%, minus 4% from Lonergan GOP supporters. McCarthy and Goings would split an enhanced Democratic base of 50%, with a slight edge going to Pat because she is the only woman in the race and has continuous county wide name recognition. Pat's name is everywhere, including in surveys with our ballots!! ; - )

I expected Cal Goings to out fund raise and to out work Pat, but she has a built in advantage. Though from my years of observations, Cal Goings is much more qualified than Pat to be our next county executive. Mike Lonergan, who I consider to be a good friend, is at a disadvantage by not having a major party label although it is not clear how this plays out in RCV elections.

Mike Lonergan has a loyal following that reaches across party lines, is somewhat Tacoma centric, and my initial estimate of 12% might be exceeded. I also predicted Mike Lonergan may have the most second choice votes, but that does not help a candidate if they don't get enough first place votes to make it past the first round.

OK, what will the results look like after the second round? Lonergan's 12% votes will be distributed as follows: Bunney 5.5%, McCarthy 2.5%, Goings 1%, No choice 3% (thus I give everyone a rounded 1% more). Thus it is now Bunney 44.5%, McCarthy 31.5%, Goings 24%. This then leads to a very close final contest, because I then redistribute based on Goings voters 2nd and 3rd choices (3rd used only if second choice was Lonergan), 14% to McCarthy, 4% Bunney, 6% No choice (thus 3% each to Bunney and McCarthy).

Final contest prediction, Bunney winner with 51.5% to McCarthy 48.5%. These calculations back in June were based on a 25% 2nd choice under vote. My discussions with voters, indicates the number could be much higher. If that is the case, that will enhance Shawn Bunney's chances for he will be the clear first place vote winner.

My numbers are of course just a seat of the pants "WAG" based on my "gut feel" back in June. It will be interesting to see how close I come to the actual results as they are tabulated in the following weeks. And the discussions on RCV will continue. Pierce County government offices should be moved to odd numbered years, joining other area municipalities. It works for the counties to our north! More on that thought at a later time.

Tim Farrell endorses Goings, McCarthy and Lonergan

For more postings about the County Executive race, click here.

Pierce County Councilmember Tim Farrell (D) has taken time out from his re-election campaign against Ken Paulson (I) to endorse Calvin Goings (D) as his first choice, Pat McCarthy (D) as his second choice and Mike Lonergan (EE) as his third choice in the County Executive race. Farrell is shown in the picture waving yard signs from all three choices.

Farrell notes that he has enjoyed working with Goings on the County Council and looks forward to working with him as County Executive. Farrell's endorsements are in line with the "One, Two, Blue" video put out by the Pierce County Democratic Party.

Farrell encourages all voters to list all of their choices. In the heavily contested County Executive race, no candidates is likely to received a majority of first choices, so second and third choices are likely to decide the race.

Social Conservatives and Republicans: Mike Lonergan and Shawn Bunney

In the heavily contested Pierce County Executive race, many observers are giving Pierce Councilmember Shawn Bunney a good shot at winning the County Executive race, but he will probably need second choices from social conservatives to obtain a majority.

Earlier this year, Bunney voted with the three Democrats on the County Council to give health benefits to the domestic partners of county employees. Some social conservatives were upset by Bunney's vote.

Originally, Mike Lonergan was talking about running for County Executive as an independent. When Bunney voted for the domestic partner benefits, some social conservatives encouraged Lonergan to try to run as a Republican. Lonergan went to the Pierce County Republican convention and attempted to get approval to run as a Republican. Lonergan fell one vote short of obtaining that right.

Lonergan decided to continue his campaign by starting his own party, the Executive Excellence party, as a way of emphasizing his strengths in the race. Lonergan is still in the race.

Social conservatives are now deciding whether or not to list Lonergan as their first choice. Many of them are likely to do so. The big question is "Will they list Bunney as their second choice?" If they do this, they may well help elect Bunney while registering their dissatisfaction with Bunney's position on domestic partners.

If Bunney succeeds in winning a majority in this year of Obama, it will be a real political feat. To win the majority, he will need the second choices of the voters who select Lonergan as their first choice.

Pat McCarthy defiled polls by signing letter

by Peter Callaghan. The News Tribune. Tacoma, Wash.: Oct 23, 2008. pg. B.1
Full Text (655 words)
(Copyright (c) 2008 The News Tribune)

It wouldn't be a real Pierce County election without some Shameless Self-Promotion using tax dollars.

County Council members being "interviewed" on the government cable channel. Creative name-dropping in the voters pamphlet. Mailed invitations to town hall meetings in the middle of campaign season.

Call it SSP, the incumbents' edge.

But until now the promotion had stopped short of the polling place and its current equivalent, the vote-by-mail envelope. Not anymore.

Inside each ballot packet is a survey addressed to "Dear Voter." It asks them to fill out a short survey explaining how they feel about the new ranked-choice voting system. It's signed "Pat McCarthy Pierce County Auditor."

In case you vote-in-person folks are feeling left out, the same survey will be handed out at each polling place.

The idea is not just to gauge voter opinion. When she used a similar survey to ask people about the "top two" primary in 2004, it kept angry voters from writing nasty messages on the ballots themselves. McCarthy, who wasn't on the ballot that election, used the information when she testified to state legislators about unhappiness with top two.

All this would be fine, of course, except for one thing. McCarthy is in the midst of a close campaign for county executive. Her last-minute boost in name identification has the other candidates complaining.

McCarthy says she is the auditor and it's her job to do things like this. And state elections supervisor Nick Handy has her back, saying he sees nothing wrong with it.

Since the survey was done in the spirit of gaining understanding, let me try to explain to Mrs. McCarthy and Mr. Handy what's wrong with it.

The ballot envelope is the polling place. It should be an electioneering-free zone just as polling places are, by law. Try walking into a polling place with a Barack Obama T-shirt or a John McCain button. The election workers are supposed to tell you to take it outside until the button is gone or the shirt is covered.

Would such passive campaigning change the result of the election? Probably not. But after months and months of loud and often nasty campaigning, Washington state thinks the ballot place should be a sanctuary of sorts. And the last thing we need is a competition where each side must match the polling-place-by-polling-place campaigning of the other.

We have grown cynical. We roll our eyes when elected officials use their office to get their name out there. But McCarthy has shown great restraint, at least since being elected herself and especially when compared to her predecessor. When Cathy Pearsall-Stipek had her name in the voters pamphlet five times and her picture three times, it meant only one thing - she wasn't on the ballot that year. If she was, the number would be higher.

When McCarthy was Pearsall-Stipek's deputy, McCarthy's name was plastered in the pamphlet and on mailings as she was preparing to replace her boss, who was term-limited.

But the current voters pamphlet has her name listed just once, other than in the section on county executive candidates and an explanation of how to mark ballots where she has equal billing to Shawn Bunney, Mike Lonergan and Calvin Goings.

Well done, I thought. Voters will be sensitive enough this year given McCarthy's role in counting the ballots and declaring a winner. Why
give them more cause for suspicion?

Then came the mailed ballots.

McCarthy claims she has the right to put her name on materials like this. Maybe she does. But the County Council required that no names appear on ranked choice voting informational materials, and this should count.

There's a difference between what elected officials can do and what they should do. The survey would be fine without her name, so I can conclude only that the reason to include it was self-promotion in a close campaign.

Release the Results!

Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy has announced her intention to wait until Friday evening or Saturday morning after the election to release the "as of" results of the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) elections. There are no systems reasons why her department needs to wait so long to release these results.

Candidates, the media and the public will want to see these results much earlier in the process. Waiting so long will introduce unneeded suspicion of the process since McCarthy herself is a candidate in one of the hotly contested races. The media, the public and the candidates should pressure McCarthy to release results earlier.

The Auditor's Office has spent money buying software to quickly tabulate the results for RCV races. Now the department needs to use the software in a timely way. The public understands that "as of" results just represent the results based on the ballots which have been tabulated "as of" the time of the release. We have seen races change as more votes are counted. One obvious example was the last Governor's race.

The public wants to know if the contest is close so far or a blowout. The Auditor's office can allow the public to know this information by releasing the results on Tuesday and/or Wednesday evenings. The public is encouraged to email the Auditor's office to demand an earlier release of RCV results. Here is her email address:
pmccart@co.pierce.wa.us.

One, Two Blue Video

The Pierce County Democrats are promoting the idea of voters listing the Democrats as first choice and second choice in the County Executive and County Council races. It is a clever little video worth viewing.

The Democrats will likely need first and second choices to win these two races. The party is promoting the use of these first two choices. This is good strategy for the Democrats to use to improve their chances of winning these seats for the party.

Mike Lonergan: Executive Excellence candidate for Pierce County Executive

For more information about the County Executive race, see here.

Mike Lonergan is the Executive Excellence candidate for Pierce County Executive and a sitting member of the Tacoma City Council. Lonergan's campaign emphasizes his experience as CEO of various non-profit organizations plus his stands on social justice. Lonergan asserts he has more executive experience than any other candidate in the race. In his role on the Tacoma City Council, Lonergan has participated in a wide variety of regional boards and committees, so his experience in government is extensive as well.

Due to the new Top 2 election system in the state of Washington, amongst state level races, there are no significant third party candidacies on the ballot in November. Lonergan is running in a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) race and, as a result, can ask for people to vote for him as their first choice and major party candidates as their second and third choices. Lonergan is not having to face the "wasted vote" argument in his campaign. This allows Lonergan to focus on the issues rather than the argument that "you don't stand a chance". List Lonergan as your first choice, if you believe he is the best candidate. Recognize that he just might win if he receives enough first and second choices.

Lonergan's campaign has had a vigorous yard sign component, just like the other three candidates in the race. Lonergan has participated in all of the debates and candidate forums around the county. He is clearly knowledgeable about the issues facing the County Executive and merits serious consideration for one of your choices, if not your first choice.

Lonergan has added to the quality of the debate in this race and deserves serious consideration. For many, his stands on the issues mean he will not be their first choice, but the same can be said of other candidates in the race. List your first, second and third choices in the Pierce County Executive race. Those second and third choices will likely have an impact on the winner of this race.

Negative Campaigning Costing Votes in County Executive Race?!?

Supporters of Calvin Goings (D) have been blasting fellow Democrat Pat McCarthy for receiving the endorsement of the Master Builders Association in their race for Pierce County Executive. Some Goings supporters are going so far as to recommending McCarthy be the fourth choice in this Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) election. In most political races going negative is a winning strategy. This negative campaign strategy is not likely to help elect a Democrat.

In RCV elections, the winner is required to receive a majority of the votes. In this particular race, there are four candidates: Shawn Bunney, the Republican; Mike Lonergan, running under the Executive Excellence banner; Goings and McCarthy. Voters are allowed to list their first, second and third choices. It is quite unlikely that Goings will receive a majority of the first choices in this race. As a result, to win he will need second and third choices from voters who support other candidates as their first choice. Democrats Al Rose and Carolyn Merrival face a similar situation in the County Council, District 2 race.

Since the Democrats have two candidates in both the County Executive race and the County Council, District 2 race, the county party is working to raise money for an ad campaign encouraging voters to cast both their first and second choices in these two races for Democrats. In the County Council race, Merrival and Rose have endorsed each other as their respective second choices. Should voters follow their endorsements, one of the Democrats will likely carry that seat despite a strong Republican candidate in State Rep. Joyce McDonald. Cooperative campaigning by Democrats can occur and is likely to protect a traditionally Democratic seat on the County Council.

Goings' attacks on McCarthy are likely to lead some voters who select McCarthy as their first choice to select either Bunney or Lonergan as their second and third choices. Indeed, out on the campaign trail we have heard the phrase "Anybody But Calvin" (ABC). On the blogs, there are people recommending McCarthy as first choice, Bunney as second choice and Lonergan as third choice. Now, this is pretty negative as well. But it sounds, at least partially, like a reaction to the negative campaigning of Goings' supporters.

This leads one to speculate that some of the ABC adherents are turned off by Goings' negative campaigning and are voting for the other candidates as a response. If this effect is widespread, then it could cost Goings votes and maybe the election.

The dynamics of RCV elections are somewhat different from the dynamics of Top 2 elections. In the race for Governor, the two candidates have gone heavily negative and each believes it will help them to get elected. In this County Executive race, going negative may be costing candidates votes.

If Rose or Merrival wins the Second District County Council seat and Bunney wins the County Executive seat, we will wonder if the negative campaigning of Goings cost the Democrats this seat.

News Tribune lists First and Second Choice in Executive Race

The Tacoma News Tribune has made the following endorsements in the County Executive race:

First Choice: Shawn Bunney (R)
Second Choice: Pat McCarthy (D)

The editorial board has endorsed a Republican and a Democrat in the race. The board appears to vote for the person, not the party. In reading their editorials, they seem to be an independent group, except for a strong favoritism for incumbents.

"All four candidates are serious contenders with impressive credentials." Indeed, the first commenter on the News Tribune website advocated Calvin Goings as first choice and Mike Lonergan as second choice. This election is likely to be quite a barn burner. We expect voters second and third choices to have a significant impact on the outcome of this race.

Ranked Choice Voting elections start

Pierce County voters will be receiving their Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) absentee ballots in the mail today or Monday. There will be far more choices for the county level RCV races than the state level Top 2 races. For example, in the countywide races, there are four candidates in the County Executive race, six in the Assessor-Treasurer race and three in the Sheriff's race.

Part of the excitement is no one is quite sure who will win several of the county level elections, so your vote counts. The County Executive, Assessor-Treasurer, County Council, District #2 and #3 races have no clear cut favorite to win. On the other hand, Congressman Norm Dicks will win re-election his Top 2 election whether you vote for him or not.

Since RCV requires majority winners, your second and third choices in the County Executive, Assessor-Treasurer and County Council, District #2 races are likely to impact the ultimate outcome. Voters should be sure to list their second and third choices in these races.

Help democracy work. Vote in the county level elections. Be sure to put your RCV ballot back in the return envelope when you return it.

Top 2 vs. Ranked Choice Voting: Negative Campaigning

Top 2 races are exhibiting high levels of negative campaigning. The Top 2 system appears to be designed to maximize the amounnt of negative campaigning. In the Governor's race, the ads are almost all negative now. Voters are being asked to vote against the other candidate, not for a particular candidate.

In the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) races in Pierce County, we are seeing much lower levels of negative campaigning. We are seeing much more positive campaigning. In the County Executive race where there are four candidates and voters have three choices, the campaigns seem more interested in getting those voters' first choices than bashing individual opponents. There is still some negative campaigning, it is just at a lower level than the Governor's race or other heavily contested Top 2 races.

In the County Council District #2 race, Carolyn Merrival and Al Rose have each endorsed the other as their second choices. Of course, in Top 2 races, voters are not allowed to list their second choices, so this would never happen. The very structure of RCV races leads to more cooperative campaigning than the Top 2.

If voters would prefer more positive campaigning and less negative campaigning, RCV is a superior system to the Top 2. Within the Top 2 system, in a heavily contested race, we see a reflex campaign tactic of going negative. Within the RCV system, we see many races with more than two candidates and the rewards to going negative are reduced.