Most Shoreline ballots, some in LFP will have elections for two Congressional districts

By Evan Smith

Ballots in most of Shoreline and the north part of Lake Forest Park will have elections in two Congressional districts in the August primary and November general election.

One will be for the last few weeks of the vacant seat in the old 1st Congressional District, the position left vacant by the resignation of Congressman Jay Inslee.

The other will be for a full two-year term in the new 7th District.

Gov. Christine Gregoire called the special election for Inslee’s seat, saying that she wants the District and the State to have full representation in a possible December lame-duck session.

We can fill the seat for the short term in the old 1st District only with an election in the old district.

Part of the old 1st District – Shoreline, Edmonds, Woodway and part of Lake Forest Park – will vote for a full term in the new 7th Congressional District; another part – Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and Brier – will vote for a full term in the new 2nd District; another part – Bothell, Kenmore and Redmond – will vote for a full term in the new 1st District; and the Bainbridge Island part of the old 1st District will vote for a full term in the new 6th District.

Who will run in the election for the short term? Probably the same candidates who will run for the full term in the new 1st District, even though many live in the new district but not in the old one. That’s OK because the only residency requirement is to live in the State, not necessarily in the district.

It’s possible that different candidates will advance from the primary to the general election for the short term and for the full term.

A State elections co-director, Katie Blinn, said Monday that the State could hold the short-term election at the same time as the full-term elections in the new districts without a change in State law.

Blinn and other elections officials have expressed concern about voters’ being confused over voting on two sets of candidates in two districts.

The person elected in the special election will hold office from Dec. 6, when the State certifies results of the Nov. 6 general election, until the new Congress convenes Jan. 7.

The seat will be vacant until December.

The old district can’t hold a special election before November without a change in State law.

The State will have to reimburse King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties for extra costs of the special part of the August and November elections.

The counties pay most of the costs of primary and general elections, but any entity calling a special election must pay for that portion of election costs.

In this case, it’s the State that has to pay the counties for its share of the election costs.

Areas of the old 7th Congressional District that will be in the new 7th District will vote only once because 7th District Congressman Jim McDermott's term last until the new Congress convenes in January.