Evan Smith: Why Shoreline School issues aren’t in the voters’ pamphlet

By Evan Smith
ShorelineAreaNews Politics Writer

Your voters’ pamphlets that arrived this week had nothing about the three Shoreline School District issues on the ballot.

That’s because the School District would have had to pay for the cost of printing and distributing its share of the pamphlets, most of which are distributed outside the District.

The King County voters’ pamphlet that comes to residents of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park goes to residences in seven ZIP codes. Four of those ZIP codes are completely outside the District; the other three are partially in the District and partially out. Rather than pay for distribution to all those people outside the District, the Shoreline School District chose to send its own mail piece at a cost of $4,500 for printing and $2,000 for postage.

The Shoreline District wasn’t alone. Eight of the 21 King County jurisdictions with measures on the February ballot chose not to use the voters’ pamphlets.

Using the voters’ pamphlet was more cost effective for the King County Library System, the Seattle School District and other large entities.

When I talked to representatives of both the School District and the County elections department Friday afternoon, neither was able to give me an estimate of what the School District’s cost would have been for a place in the pamphlet.