A familiar post-election refrain, as predictable as swallows returning to Capistrano or Cougar fans pinning their Apple Cup hopes on bad weather in Pullman, sounded last week. The amount of time Washington takes to count its ballots and settle elections predictably irked several politicians. The Secretary of State-elect Kim Wyman, Washington’s election chief in waiting, wants to require all ballots to be in elections officials’ hands by Election Day. State Sen. Randi Becker, R-Eatonville, said she’d introduce legislation to do just that. Read more

A post-election refrain, as predictable as swallows returning to Capistrano or Cougar fans pinning their Apple Cup hopes on bad weather in Pullman, sounded last week. The amount of time Washington takes to count its ballots and settle elections predictably irked several politicians.  State Sen. … Read more

Ken Edmunds of Twin Falls, president of the Idaho State Board of Education, said what the voters said last week “matters a great deal.” He said, “If people aren't satisfied with what we're doing, they're not going to support further change.” The board will hold a special meeting Monday to vote on a series of rule changes, including possibly repealing the requirement that Idaho high school students take two online courses to graduate from high school; doing away with a funding scheme that automatically diverts school districts funds to online course providers if students opt to take courses online, with or without their school district's permission; and considering whether to reconsider rules regarding teacher and principal evaluations. … Read more

There also are two other rule changes on the State Board of Education's agenda for Monday's special meeting that are a result of the rejection of the “Students Come First” laws by voters: One regarding “fractional ADA,” and another regarding teacher and principal evaluations. The agenda calls for fractional ADA to be repealed, while the evaluation issue may wait for input from stakeholders. “Fractional ADA” refers to Average Daily Attendance, which is the basis on which school districts receive their state funding, as it's tied through a complex formula to the number of students. … Read more

Eastern Washington’s clout in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives appears to be growing. U.S Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Spokane Republican, was chosen by her colleagues Wednesday to serve as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, the fourth-highest-ranking position in the congressional chamber. The secret ballot vote was conducted in a closed meeting. The tally was not publicly disclosed. Read more

Spokane County prosecutors are following colleagues from King, Pierce and Clark counties in saying they will no longer prosecute adults 21 and older for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. “We are not going to prosecute any new cases,” said Jack Driscoll, chief criminal deputy Spokane County prosecutor, following passage last week by Washington voters of a marijuana-legalization law. “After Dec. 6, it is legal to possess an ounce” if you are 21 or older, he said. Read more

Eastern Washington’s clout in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives appears to be growing. U.S Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Spokane Republican, was chosen by her colleagues Wednesday to serve as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, the fourth-highest-ranking position in the congressional chamber. Read more

 The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Jon Stewart skewers folks talking secession and other dire consequences in the wake of Obama's re-election. Read more

OLYMPIA – Washington will be “following the will of the voters and moving ahead” with setting up ways that adults can legally obtain marijuana for recreational use, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday after meeting with federal law enforcement officials. Gregoire met with Deputy Attorney General James Cole in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to discuss how the state would implement Initiative 502, which voters passed in last week’s election. Read more

OLYMPIA – Washington will be “following the will of the voters and moving ahead” with setting up ways that adults can legally obtain marijuana for recreational use, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday after meeting with federal law enforcement officials.   To read the rest of this post, go inside the blog.   Read more

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has missed a key endorsement in her quest to win the fourth-most powerful position in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the recent Republican vice presidential nominee, has backed Tom Price, R-Ga., in the race between Price and McMorris Rodgers for the chairmanship of the House Republican Conference. McMorris Rodgers may still be the favorite, especially after last week's elections showed a wide gap in enthusiasm for the GOP among women, but it does show that a McMorris Rodgers' win isn't a guarantee. Here is the Washington Post's story about Ryan's decision. Read more

  An Arizona woman got so angry that President Obama won another term that she ran down her husband, who neglected to vote. Either she really took to heart the old saying that “Every Vote Counts” but skipped the class in Civics that explained the Electoral College, or she was just close to the edge and this tipped her over it. Read more

Idaho school teachers who earned $38.8 million in merit-pay bonuses last year under the now-repealed “Students Come First” school reform laws still must be paid those bonuses for their work last school year, according to an Idaho Attorney General's opinion released today by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna. … Read more

The Twin Falls Times-News reports today that House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, has publicly announced his run for Speaker of the House, taking on current Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale. “It's time for a change,” Bedke told the newspaper. Leadership elections will take place at closed-door party caucusesDec. … Read more

For some pastors, Washington’s new law allowing same-sex marriage only adds a piece of paperwork to the blessings they already give to gay couples making a lifelong commitment. For others, the new law has no bearing because their church rules already bar them from marrying people of the same sex. Read more

BOISE – Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene, says he doesn’t want teachers to lose the $38.8 million in performance-pay bonuses that the state is scheduled to send out to school districts on Nov. 15 – he just wants it distributed differently than the voter-rejected Students Come First laws required. “I would like to see it go to the base, and let the teachers negotiate with their local school boards for it,” Hammond said. “Because I think it’s disingenuous … giving merit pay to people that don’t deserve it. I don’t want to do that to teachers.” Read more

SEATTLE – The Democratic candidate for secretary of state conceded Saturday, making Kim Wyman Washington’s next top election officer and the only Republican to win a statewide election this year. In turn, Democrat Kathleen Drew came close to breaking a Republican grip on the secretary of state’s office. Democrats have not produced a secretary of state in nearly 50 years. Read more

It might be easy to argue that the biggest winner in Tuesday’s election, outside of the folks who were actually on a ballot, was Patty Murray. She certainly sounded like it last week. “I’m really excited,” she said with greater-than-normal enthusiasm in a phone interview while on her way to catch a plane. Read more

Former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, who promised to help solve Washington’s budget woes and boost its economy by trimming government and targeting industries of the future, will be the state’s next governor. Although elections officials may not know the final results of Inslee’s high-stakes battle with Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna for more than a week, McKenna acknowledged Friday evening that he would not be able to close the gap. Read more

A Democrat will occupy the governor's office for another four years. Less than 24 hours after his campaign insisted that their data showed he would eventually win the governor's race, Republican Rob McKenna conceded defeat Friday evening as Washington's ongoing ballot count showed he couldn't close the gap with Democrat Jay Inslee. “We just realized there wasn't going to be enough of an offset,” Randy Pepple, McKenna's campaign manager and longtime friend, said. Inslee scheduled a press conference for 6:45 p.m. … Read more