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11-01-2013, 03:47 PM | #1 | ||
Goon Squad Leader
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Seattle
Posts: 27,063
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What's in your ballot?
This election, there are the usual city council races, levy proposals, local rules changes, etc. Those are important, but kind of boring. There are some other issues on the ballot this election that are gaining *much* wider attention.
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The other issue that might be gaining widespread attention is Proposition 1 (I don't have an exact quote, sorry) that suggests that the minimum wage be raised to $15.00 per hour. This is for a small city south of Seattle, called SeaTac, it's the city where our airport is located. The population of the city is about 25,000 people, and I've heard that as few as 4,000 people will be voting on the measure. There've been many arguments about this one and since I don't live in the city where it's on the ballot, I won't have a chance to vote on it, though I support it and I would vote YES if given the chance. There is another one called Initiative Measure No. 517. Here's the executive summary for this one: It's sponsored/written/contaminated by Tim Eyman, conservative political provacateur and criminal asshole. Therefore NO on anything with his stink on it. NO on 517. Of local interest: Prop 19, a change to the Seattle City Council method of representation to a hybrid system of districts and at-large members. I think I'm gonna vote yes. Prop 1, a proposition to create a system of publicly funded election campaigns. I think I'm gonna vote yes. I'm undecided about which candidate for mayor, Mike McGinn (incumbent) or Ed Murray, I'll support. There are four "Advisory Votes" on the ballot, which are kinda weird. An advisory vote is a chance for the electorate to express their non binding opinion about something the legislature's already done. In this case, our state government changed the tax laws as part of the effort to balance our state budget. They closed four loopholes (one man's loophole is another man's incentive--an entirely different conversation). More Tim Eyman nonsense. Washington is an entirely vote-by-mail state now, so I've had my ballot for a week or two, it's due to be postmarked by Tuesday. I'll let you know the score.
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11-01-2013, 08:16 PM | #2 |
still says videotape
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
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Elections? We still have those? Quaint.
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11-01-2013, 10:56 PM | #3 | |
UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Austin, TX
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11-05-2013, 02:12 PM | #4 | |||
Goon Squad Leader
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Seattle
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... on a different note, here are a couple endorsements from a local paper. I got a chuckle... Quote:
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That's four votes for 522 (I hope/expect) and four against 517. Plus mayor, etc...
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11-05-2013, 02:51 PM | #5 |
Person who doesn't update the user title
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Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods
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V, FYI, for the past couple of weeks the advocates for HR 522,
the "genetically engineered food labeling measure, has been running just one specific tv ad in the Vancouver/PDX area. I believe it will be extremely effective. It is a spokesman for Consumer Union (Consumer Reports) putting CU's own reputation on the line by contradicting each of the mega industries' bullet points. * Consumer Union has long advocated this kind of labeling * milk, meat and human food will be labeled, dog food will not * the labeling will be accurate and informative * the labeling should not increase food prices * Washington will lead the nation in this effort *** Vote YES on 522 *** The industry opposition (fear - fear - fear) ads came out early and frequently. This CU ad is running only in the last couple of weeks until voting today. I think it will be very interesting to see the outcome - I'm guessing it will pass. |
11-05-2013, 10:47 PM | #6 |
I hear them call the tide
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
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the Twenty-pound-carp didn't win...
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11-06-2013, 12:10 AM | #7 |
Hoodoo Guru
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 286
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Detroit elected its first white mayor (Mike Duggan) since '74, when Coleman Young took over for Roman Gribbs; its first Latina city council member (Raquel Castaneda-Lopez); and, by 50 votes, its first white city council member (Gabe Leland) since '74 or thereabouts.
Duggan won the primary on a write-in campaign after filing as a candidate too early (he hadn't been a resident for one year); being disqualified, despite the fact that had he waited two weeks to file, he would have been eligible; appealing twice; conceding the point; and then changing his mind. As a write-in candidate during the primary, he was then challenged by a guy named Mike Dugeon, who also mounted a write-in candidacy. And then, yesterday, Dugeon voted for Duggan. Not quite a 20-lb carp. Last edited by gvidas; 11-06-2013 at 12:17 AM. |
11-06-2013, 08:38 AM | #8 |
I hear them call the tide
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
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The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart |
11-06-2013, 10:36 AM | #9 | |
Goon Squad Leader
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LOL bottom feeder.
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11-06-2013, 10:38 AM | #10 | |
Goon Squad Leader
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Quote:
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11-06-2013, 10:50 AM | #11 |
Person who doesn't update the user title
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11-06-2013, 11:17 AM | #12 |
™
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
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Glad we dodged a bullet in Virginia. It was much closer than it should have been.
I just saw that the race for Attorney General is real close. Only 55 votes difference. That will cause a recount. |
11-06-2013, 01:10 PM | #13 |
Goon Squad Leader
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Cuccinelli, right? That is the bullet you dodged? Here in WA I think the threshold for a manual recount is when the difference is less than half a percent of the vote cast.
Back to Cuccinelli. I just looked at the election page at Politico for Virginia. Wow, there are about 6 million voters in the state and almost that many counties! Look at this map! That's what the victory for McAullife map looks like. I think it's also representative of where the population centers are. The difference between the top two candidates is about 50k votes, which seems quite close. I think this is good for VA, and good for the country because Cuccinelli and his Tea Party fellows are chock full of bad ideas; I'm happy to see them lose. But I also think the race was close enough to give them hope, indeed, I've been listening to Rush Limbaugh this morning and the whining (today) has been about how the Republican party leadership doomed Cuccinelli's campaign by starving it for money. So, they're not disheartened, just mad. I think this will simply prolong the internal fighting on the conservative side of the country's party structure. This will not bode well for Rs in coming national elections. I think Christie (R) from NJ would be a much more competitve candidate for the Republican side, but the TP faction won't back him any more than the mainstream Rs will back Cuccinelli. Stalemate. D victory.
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11-06-2013, 03:24 PM | #14 |
Professor
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My wife and I voted against the bonds and future taxes to pay for the bonds to turn the Astrodome into some kind of convention space. The plans seemed to vague and I really think the dome is not condusive to the kind of venue they invisioned. We thought it is better to just let it go the way of the wrecking ball like mostly every other historic structure in Houston! Why stop now?
Also, we had to show photo ID under the new stupid law designed to stop non existent voter ID fraud! We chose to use our US Passports which say nothing about us living in Texas or anywhere for that matter. The volunteer ladies that run our little precinct were very nice and impressed and asked us if we travel a lot because none of them have ever had or seen a passport, and they explained that my county voter registration only has my middle initial and both my passport and data supplied to them from the Department of motor vehicles have my middle name as Brian. So technically my ID did not match but they checked the box that said they accepted me as the registered voter and I had to initial that it was incorrect. My wife also had an issue because when she registered to vote here 20 some years ago women were required to list their maiden name if they had one so her registration shows it as her middle name and she has no ID with that on it. Same story for her. So what the fuck did that solve? We used ID with no Texas address and slightly mismatching names and still voted. If we had voted absentee we would have not had to show anyone any ID! I am hopeful in a few years we will get a Democrat for a governor and a Democrat controlled legislature and they can scrap the stupid ID thing. |
11-06-2013, 03:36 PM | #15 | |
I think this line's mostly filler.
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That's what it solved.
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