Election Center: The latest election and political coverage from The Spokesman-Review

u 2010 Washington Primary Election

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  • Nov 14 A story in City

    Spin Control: Pace of ballot counting sure gets the dander up

    One sure sign that fall is easing into winter is that political types are complaining about how long it takes to count ballots in Washington state. This rant usually starts about three days after an election, when the results of most races have been known for two days but a few close contests hang in the balance. This year, the main target of the whining is a state Supreme Court race, which on Friday was still somewhat in doubt.
  • Nov 12 A story in Region

    Sanders says he’ll likely lose Supreme Court race

    State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders fell further behind challenger Charlie Wiggins on Friday and acknowledged he was unlikely to turn the campaign around. Wiggins got a boost in his vote total from ballots tabulated in King County, and has a lead of about 5,700 votes going into the weekend.
  • Nov 11 A story in City

    Latest vote count still favors Wiggins

    Voters in King County have helped Charlie Wiggins hang onto the lead in his bid to oust incumbent Justice Richard Sanders.
  • Nov 10 A blog post in Spin Control

    Democrats want probe of AFPWA spending

    Washington state Democrats want the Public Disclosure Commission to go after a group that spent money against some of their legislative candidates but hasn't revealed where the money comes from.They filed a complaint today against Americans For Prosperity Washington, an offshoot of the national Americans For Prosperity, for campaign ads against Sens. ...
  • A story in City

    Chilberg concedes treasurer race to Chase

    Spokane County Treasurer Skip Chilberg conceded defeat Tuesday to his general election challenger, Rob Chase. Chilberg said he called Chase to offer his congratulations.
  • A story in City

    Wiggins takes lead in court race

    Former Appeals Court Judge Charlie Wiggins took a narrow lead over incumbent Justice Richard Sanders in Washington’s tight Supreme Court race Tuesday afternoon. An analysis of voting patterns suggests Wiggins will finish ahead of Sanders and take his place on the state’s highest court when all remaining ballots are counted.
  • Nov 09 A blog post in Spin Control

    Wiggins takes lead, has voting trends on his side

    Former Appeals Court Judge Charlie Wiggins took a narrow lead over incumbent Justice Richard Sanders in Washington’s tight Supreme Court race Tuesday afternoon.An analysis of voting patterns suggests Wiggins will finish ahead of Sanders and take his place on the state’s highest court when all remaining ballots are counted.Sanders, an outspoken jurist with libertarian leanings, was first elected to the state’s highest court in 1995 and re-elected twice since. ...
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Wiggins takes lead…can he keep it?

    Challenger Charlie Wiggins has taken the lead of about 3,500 votes over Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders on the strength of King County ballots tabulated at 4:30 p.m. Pierce and several other counties,  where Sanders has been ahead since election night, are scheduled to report at 5 p.m. or slightly later.Stay tuned.
  • A story in News

    Wiggins takes lead in Supreme Court race

    Charlie Wiggins took the lead in Washington state's tight Supreme Court race, inching ahead of incumbent Justice Richard Sanders.
  • Nov 08 A story in Region

    Challenger Wiggins pulls closer to Justice Sanders

    Challenger Charlie Wiggins is cutting into Justice Richard Sanders’ lead in the contest for a state Supreme Court seat.
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    State Supreme Ct Race: Wiggins closes gap, Sanders warns of ‘theft’

    OLYMPIA -- With challenger Charlie Wiggins closing the gap on Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders-- and some media outlets predicting Wiggins will win the race -- Sanders' campaign sent out a plea to supporters for money for a possible recount."Don't let Wiggins steal this election" is the subject line of the e-mail asking for money fora fund "to get all the ballots counted." It notes there are some 17,000 ballots that need to have voters clear up questions with signatures.In an interview with AP's Rachel La Corte, Sanders said he didn't authorize the headline on the fund-raising e-mail and says it shouldn't say that. ...
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Self-financed campaigns faltered

    Trying to buy an election by self-financing a campaign is a bad investment, a study from the Center for Responsive Politics says.Only about one  in five candidates who poured a half-million dollars or more into their own campaigns came out a winner last week. ...
  • Nov 07 A story in City

    State leaders see tighter coffer, bipartisan tilt

    OLYMPIA – Washington politicians who had any doubt the public is in no mood for more taxes should have had that cleared up Tuesday. For the budget struggles ahead next year, voter sentiment is clear: Don’t ask us for more money, cut the budget. Voters sank a proposal for a state income tax on the wealthy, struck down temporary taxes on soda, candy, bottled water and some processed foods, and reinstated a two-thirds supermajority for passing any new taxes.
  • A story in City

    Incumbent Larsen’s lead over challenger grows

    Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen continues to expand his lead over Republican challenger John Koster.
  • A story in City

    Election season had smears, jeers, memorable moments

    With the 2010 election all over but the counting – admittedly the counting still is important in a few races – it seems appropriate to look back over the campaign. It was an avalanche of nasty ads, debates over debates, commercials and visits from out-of-state big shots played out against a backdrop of voters worried about their next paycheck, house payment or bag of groceries. And that’s looking at things as an optimist. Maybe the best that can be said about it is, it’s over. But before it fades from memory, here are some of the highlights and lowlifes of Campaign 2010.
  • Nov 06 A blog post in Spin Control

    That was the campaign that was

    With the 2010 election all over but the counting – admittedly the counting still is important in a few races – it seems appropriate to look back over the campaign.It was an avalanche of nasty ads, debates over debates commercials and visits from out-of-state big shots played out against a backdrop of voters worried about their next paycheck, house payment or bag of groceries. ...
  • Nov 05 A blog post in Spin Control

    Seeing ones: Today’s vote count

    Spokane County tallied 11,111 move ballots Friday from the Nov. 2 election. An unusual looking number that didn't create any unusual twists in the standings.Republican challenger Al French leads Democratic County Commissioner Bonnie Mager by about 1,100 votes. Republican challenger Rob Chase leads Democratic County Treasurer Skip Chilberg by about 1,000 votes. ...
  • A story in Region

    Washington election turnout may top 70 percent

    Washington elections officials say a late surge in ballots will likely push the turnout for Tuesday’s election to 70 percent or higher.
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Turnout higher than expected

    OLYMPIA -- Turnout for last Tuesday's election is higher than expected and may set a record for a mid-year election, Secretary of State Sam Reed said today.State elections officials were projecting a turnout of 66 percent for the mid-term, but are now revising that upwards to 70 percent or more. Both political parties had massive get out the vote efforts, both when ballots first arrived in mailboxes in mid October and again in the closing days of the campaign. ...
  • A story in City

    Murray secures Senate victory

    Democrat Patty Murray won a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, building a lead of nearly 50,000 votes over Republican rival Dino Rossi as counting continued Thursday. Faced with a near mathematical impossibility of catching her even though hundreds of thousands of votes remain to be counted, Rossi conceded Thursday evening.
  • A story in City

    State Senate control hinges on tight races

    SEATTLE – Democrats were holding onto slim leads in three races in King and Snohomish counties that will decide which party controls the state Senate next year, Thursday’s ballot returns showed. Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, extended his small lead over Republican challenger Dave Schmidt to about 250 votes. Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, extended his margin to about 630 votes. In the Federal Way-area 30th District, Democratic Sen. Tracey Eide’s lead held steady with more than 660 votes.
  • A story in City

    Challenger gains on justice

    SEATTLE – Bainbridge Island attorney Charlie Wiggins is cutting into the slim lead held by Justice Richard Sanders as Sanders tries to retain his seat on the Washington state Supreme Court. In updated vote totals Thursday evening, Sanders led 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent. That was a slight improvement for Wiggins, who trailed by 2 percentage points to start the day.
  • Nov 04 A story in News

    Murray wins, Rossi concedes

    Patty Murray's lead in the U.S. Senate race became insurmountable Thursday, prompting Republican challenger Dino Rossi to concede at 6:15 p.m.
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Mapping the vote: Spokane County prosecutor’s race

    The race between Steve Tucker and Frank Malone shows some very noticeable splits between precincts insided the city and outside the city.These numbers come from the vote totals released Thursday evening.
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Fun video bonus: Two different views of the election

    President Barack Obama and Sen. Mitch McConnell had two very different takes on what the American people were saying on Tuesday, and what they plan to do about it.
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Mapping the vote: City Prop 1’s failure

    The City of Spokane's Proposition 1 was pretty unpopular, as the map above shows.It had some small "yes" margins around the downtown core and a few precincts to the north and south. But it went from no to "hell no" as the precincts got further and further from the core, demonstrating what a tough election this was for anything to do with taxes.
  • A story in News

    Candy, pop and water taxes gone Dec. 1

    Higher taxes on candy, gum, bottled water and pop will soon be gone.
  • A blog post in Spin Control

    Mapping the vote: 6th District House race

    Republican challenger and former state Rep. John Ahern is comfortably ahead of incumbent Democrat in the 6th District House race. As this computer mapping of their vote totals shows, Ahern has large vote margins on the edges of the City of Spokane and beyond, while Driscoll's strength is inside the city limits, particularly on the lower South Hill.
  • A story in City

    Incumbent Murray expands lead in Senate race

    Democratic incumbent Patty Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi headed into a third day of vote tallies today with no clear winner in Washington state’s U.S. Senate race.
  • A story in City

    Voters vent frustrations with GOP gains in county, state

    Democrat Chris Marr conceded defeat Wednesday night in the record-breaking million-dollar battle for a Spokane County state Senate seat. Marr made up some ground in the second day of ballot counting against Republican Michael Baumgartner, but he said it was too little to make a difference.
  • A story in City

    Clark: Parties get wild, wilted Election Day

    Doug’s Election Night Diary. 7:40 – I drive first to Spokane’s Lincoln Center where the Democrats are hanging out. If the early returns hold up, it looks like their evening is about to become an inflamed hemorrhoid of Biblical proportion. So I want to hit and run before someone wises up and yells, “Let’s string up the wiseacre columnist!”
  • A story in City

    State Supreme Court race still close

    SEATTLE – Justice Richard Sanders maintained a narrow lead in his bid for a fourth term on the state Supreme Court as more votes were counted Wednesday, but challenger Charlie Wiggins said he was encouraged by his performance in the state’s most populous county. Sanders had 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Wiggins. About two-thirds of the statewide vote has been counted, but a significant portion of the uncounted ballots were in King County, where Wiggins was collecting nearly 57 percent.
  • A story in City

    State takes blame for election website crashes

    Washington has killer election websites when they work. “There is no state in the country that has this sophisticated an election-night reporting system,” state Elections Director Nick Handy said.
  • Nov 03 A story in City

    For second election, state election system fails to deliver

    Washington has killer election websites when they work. “There is no state in the country that has this sophisticated an election-night reporting system,” state Elections Director Nick Handy said.
  • A story in News

    Close local races remain close

    Close races remained close Wednesday after the latest Spokane County ballot totals were released this evening. But for some candidates who were counting on a big surge, the new numbers fell short.
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