Early WA/King County Election Results
Since it’s just the early-morning after election day, and something like 80% of the votes in the state are sent absentee, it’s probably too early to call any of the races besides the most blatantly one-sided results.
That said, here are some of the early numbers from this morning. From King5 election results: http://www.king5.com/election/results.html?hotraces
60% counted, Ron Sims over David Irons 54.5->40.9
58% counted, Monorail losing 36->64
58% counted, Nickels over Runte 64->36
63% counted, I-912 (dump the gas tax) is losing 47->53
63% counted, I-901 (add smoking ban) is winning 63->37
63% counted, I-330 (doctor’s malpractice initiative/tort reform) is losing 46->54
63% counted, I-336 (trial lawyer’s malpractice initiative) is losing 41->59
So, from that I have to say I’m a bit surprised on several of these. I figured 336 and 912 were a sure thing, for instance. Perhaps I underestimated the good folks of Seattle/Washington. 
The monorail, however, is less of a surprise. When even those who support “transit” can’t seem to agree on whether to vote for it (you wouldn’t believe the infighting I’ve witnessed on several of the email lists I watch over the past few weeks), it doesn’t stand much of a chance with the common voter…
Shame, since the concept has been so successful in the past. Goes to show how poor PR over just a few months (releasing the $11 billion finance number – showing how badly in the dark the SMP board was, for instance) can really ruin a project.
I really feel for the folks in West Seattle who now stand almost no chance of getting rapid transit in the near future. Sorry folks.
So, presuming it ends up losing after all the votes are counted, I wonder how it’ll go down. The vote means that the SMP will be dissolved, I believe. But we’ll still be paying the auto MVET for several years at least. Wait and see, I suppose.
Evan Dodds - Non-work-related blog » Metro bus funding editorial said,
February 22, 2006 at 8:14 am
[...] Interesting history! Being, still, relatively new to Washington State, it never ceases to amaze me some of the crazy history we have here in this state. Funding is a problem everywhere, but we seem to do some short-sighted stuff here. I’m just glad we shot down (similarly dangerous) initiative I-912 last November! [...]