County items dominate Aug 1 primary-election ballot

By Evan Smith

Shoreline voters will choose among three candidates for a position on the Shoreline City Council, but otherwise countywide matters will dominate ballots for the Aug. 1 primary-election ballot.

All voters in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and around King County will face contests to narrow fields for the November 7 general election for County executive and three positions on the Seattle Port Commission.

In addition, the ballot includes a county tax levy for a cultural-access program.

The Shoreline City Council position, the county executive position and the three port positions are on the primary-election ballot because each has at least three candidates. The top two vote-getters for each position qualify for the November.

The county council position representing Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and the rest of County Council District 1 will appear only on the November ballot.

So will three Shoreline City Council positions, four Lake Forest Park council positions, two Shoreline School Board positions, two Shoreline Fire Department Board position, one Northshore Fire District Board position, one position on the North City Water District Board, one on the Lake Forest Park Water District Board, one on the Northshore Water District Board, one on the Ronald Wastewater District Board and three on the Northshore Utility District Board.

Each of those positions has only one or two candidates.

County elections officials will send ballots to registered voters July 13 by first-class mail.

The deadline for voters to register online or by mail or for currently registered Washington voters to file a change of address is July 3.

New Washington voters can register through July 24, but they​ must register in person at either the county elections office in Renton or the voter registration annex in downtown Seattle.

Sample ballot for Aug. 1 primary election

King County
Proposition No. 1
Sales Tax for Cultural Access Program

The King County Council passed Ordinance No. 18513 to establish and fund a cultural access program. The program would expand access to arts, science, and heritage programming throughout King County. The program would include cultural education in schools and transportation to cultural venues for public school students. The program would also provide funding for cultural organizations to expand programming, including to serve diverse and underserved populations. The cultural access program, including administrative costs, would be funded by a county sales tax increase of one-tenth of one percent for seven years beginning January 1, 2018. 

Should this proposition be:
Approved __
Rejected ___

King County, Executive
• Goodspaceguy
• Dow Constantine
• Bill Hirt
• Stan Lippmann

Port of Seattle, Commissioner Position 1
• Claudia Kauffman
• Bea Querido-Rico
• Ryan Calkins
• John Creighton

Port of Seattle, Commissioner Position 3
• Lisa Espinosa
• Ahmed Abdi
• Stephanie Bowman

Port of Seattle, Commissioner Position 4
• Preeti Shridhar
• Richard Pope
• Brooks Salazar
• Peter Steinbrueck
• Ray S. Armitstead
• John Persak
• Fernando Martinez
• Ken Rogers

City of Shoreline, Council Position 5
• Susan Chang
• Bergith Kayyali
• Carolyn Ahlgreen