Some workers in Burien might soon see their paychecks increase. 

Measure 1, a citizen initiative to expand Burien’s minimum wage policy, was leading after the second round of ballot counting on Wednesday with 55% of voters in support. 

If it passes, Measure 1 will replace a minimum wage policy recently adopted by the Burien City Council with a new version that increases the number of businesses required to pay a full minimum wage. 

The City Council’s law raised the wage floor to $21.16 when it went into effect at the start of this year. But initiative supporters argued that the city’s law didn’t represent a true wage increase because it came with a number of exceptions that allowed some businesses to continue paying less — for instance, those with small staffs and ones where employees get tips. 

Measure 1 would remove many of those exemptions. It would also tie Burien’s minimum wage to that of the neighboring jurisdiction of Tukwila, where the wage cap is currently $21.10 and set to increase with inflation. 

“It just means that more people in our community are going to make a better living wage,” Jennifer Fichamba, a Burien resident who helped lead the Measure 1 campaign, said in an interview last week. 

The initiative to get Measure 1 on the ballot was led by the Transit Riders Union, a progressive advocacy group that in recent years has led successful campaigns to raise the wage floor in nearby jurisdictions like SeaTac and Tukwila. Many business owners opposed the initiative, supporting the City Council’s law and arguing that the exemptions were necessary to protect small employers. 

The City Council’s law allows businesses to count an employee’s tips and benefits toward an employee’s total wage. It also allows businesses with fewer than 20 employees working within King County to continue paying a wage as low as the state’s $16.66 minimum. 

Measure 1 will remove the carveout for tips and benefits. It will also change how business sizes are calculated: “Small” businesses with fewer than 15 employees total (not just in King County) will pay $18.10 an hour, and “medium” businesses with 15 to 499 employees will pay $19.10 an hour. Businesses with more than 500 employees will pay the full $21.10. There will be a gradual phase-in; by 2031, businesses of all sizes in Burien will be held to the same wage standard. 

Measure 1 would also expand an employee’s right to take private legal action if they believe their employer isn’t compliant, and create a new rule that says businesses have to offer available hours to existing employees before hiring new ones. 

The idea of raising the wage may also be a topic in Olympia this year. A group of House Democrats are backing House Bill 1764, which would raise the state’s minimum wage by $1.50 each year until it reaches $25 by the start of 2031.

Voting for the Feb. 11 special election starts today. Thirty-two counties, including King, Yakima, Snohomish, Spokane and Thurston, have issues on next month’s ballot. The deadline for counties to send ballots to voters is today (Friday, Jan. 24).

Local ballots will include levy and bond measures in 56 school districts across the state, including Seattle, Issaquah, Puyallup, Vancouver and Toppenish; competing social housing measures in Seattle; a minimum wage measure in Burien; and other local issues across the state.

Not all districts or counties will have a measure next month. According to the state, about 1.5 million out of 5 million Washington voters will get a ballot for February. Voters can check their local county elections office or VoteWA.gov to see if they are supposed to get a ballot.

The last day for online and mailed registrations is Feb. 3, though voters can register in person at their local counties until Feb. 11. Ballots must be turned in at county ballot boxes or postmarked by 8 p.m. Feb. 11.

Republican candidate Dave Reichert conceded in the Washington state gubernatorial race Tuesday after two weeks of ballot counting.

Reichert, a former King County sheriff and congressman for Washington’s 8th Congressional District, congratulated Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 15, 2025. 

In a social media post Tuesday, Reichert thanked his supporters and said they gave him “hope that we can turn this upside-down world right-side up.” He said while his campaign was built on the “heart of a servant,” his campaign was always about his supporters. 

“While this race did not go as planned, I don’t want you to lose hope,” Reichert said. “I urge you to join me in keeping the hope and staying the course. We must continue to vote and be proud of our values, even if they look different than the majority of our state. And remember: there will always be more that unites us than divides us.”

On election night, Reichert told supporters he would not concede until the last vote was counted.

Ferguson, who is the state’s current attorney general, garnered nearly 56% of the vote in the election, while Reichert brought in around 44%. As of Tuesday, about 24,300 votes are estimated to remain to be counted, according to the secretary of state’s general election results page. That number would not be enough to close the gap between the candidates. 

Reichert’s campaign was focused on crime and safety issues as well as addressing the state’s high cost of living, but he faced intense criticism from opposition groups and some voters for his stances on abortion and reproductive rights throughout his campaign. 

Everett voters appear to be on track to approve a new minimum wage of $20.24 per hour, nearly four dollars higher than the state minimum wage.  

Initiative 24-01 was passing with 58% of the vote Tuesday night. If it succeeds, large employers in Everett with over 500 employees will begin paying the $20.24 minimum wage beginning July 1, 2025. For companies with 15-500 employees, the minimum wage will be phased in, beginning at $18.24 on July 1 and reaching the same rate paid by large employers by 2027, which will be adjusted annually for inflation.

The measure does not apply to businesses with fewer than 15 employees.  

Supporters of the Everett Deserves a Raise campaign argued the higher wage is necessary to offset rising costs of rent, groceries, gas and other life expenses that are contributing to residents getting displaced from the city. The measure was backed by unions including UFCW 3000, the Snohomish & Island County Labor Council and the Public School Employees of Washington.  

Everett voters were tasked with choosing between two similar and competing minimum wage measures this election. Initiative 24-02, known as Raise the Wage Responsibly, also would have increased the minimum wage to $20.24 over time, but allowed businesses to count tips, health care and retirement contributions toward a worker’s minimum wage.  

The backers of this alternative measure, including the Washington Hospitality Association, argued the tipped wage credit and other exceptions would allow higher pay for workers without hurting businesses also feeling the impact of inflation.  

Initiative 24-02 was losing by 59% after the first ballot count Tuesday night. Had both measures passed, the one with more Yes votes would have superseded the other, according to the Everett Herald.  

Tipped wage credits were a flashpoint issue in Seattle recently. As part of its decade-long phase-in of its highest-in-the-nation minimum wage law in 2015, Seattle allowed businesses like restaurants and coffee shops to count tips toward workers’ minimum wage.  

That exemption is set to expire at the start of 2025. Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth introduced a bill in late July to keep the tipped wage credit in place in response to restaurant and other business owners’ concerns about the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic. Hollingsworth withdrew her bill one week later after facing swift blowback from labor leaders and workers.  

In 2022, Tukwila voters approved a measure to raise the minimum wage — now $20.29 an hour for large employers. Renton voters approved a measure in February 2024 to match neighboring Tukwila’s new wage. Everett would join these cities as having among the highest minimum wages in the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

This article was updated to clarify how Everett's minimum wage would be phased in for medium-sized employers. 

Republican Michael Baumgartner appears to have defeated Democrat Carmela Conroy in the race for Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District. 

Baumgartner had 60% of the vote after Tuesday night’s initial ballot count. Conroy was trailing with 40%. 

Baumgartner is a familiar face in Spokane politics. He was a state senator from 2010 to 2019, and currently serves as Spokane County treasurer. Before entering politics, he worked as an economics officer for the U.S. State Department in Iraq and a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. 

Conroy spent 24 years as a foreign service officer and diplomat with the U.S. State Department. She has also worked as a deputy prosecutor in Spokane County and recently chaired the Spokane County Democratic party. 

The 5th District covers the easternmost part of Washington. Much of the district is agricultural, but it also includes major cities like Spokane, Pullman and Walla Walla. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, has represented the district since 2004. In February, she unexpectedly announced that she would not seek reelection. Baumgartner got 28.5% of the vote in a 11-person primary, one of the most crowded races in Washington this year. 

On the campaign trail, Conroy and Baumgartner were split along party lines on most issues. Baumgartner listed securing the southern border as a top priority, while Conroy emphasized her support for abortion rights. 

Republicans have historically held a large advantage in the 5th District. The last Democrat to hold the seat was Tom Foley, who served as Speaker of the House and was defeated by Republican George Nethercutt in 1994. 

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell appears headed toward reelection with 60% of the votes tallied in the first statewide ballot drop Tuesday. 

Her GOP challenger, Dr. Raul Garcia, was trailing with 40% as of Tuesday evening. Votes will continue to be counted over the following days. 

Cantwell, 65, lives in Edmonds and has served as a senator for more than 20 years. She moved to Washington in 1983 and served three terms in the state House from 1986 to 1992. Cantwell then was elected to the U.S. House in 1992, but lost her reelection campaign in 1994. She took down Republican U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton in 2000 and has held the Senate seat since. 

She chairs the Senate Commerce, Science & Technology Committee, where one of her accomplishments was sponsoring the CHIPS & Science Act, which allocated nearly $250 billion over five years for technology research and manufacturing. This included four semiconductor projects in the Pacific Northwest, creating an estimated 2,880 jobs. 

Her campaign has spent nearly $3.6 million, compared to Garcia’s campaign spending of $617,000, according to federal campaign disclosure records. 

Yakima physician Raul Garcia has worked as an emergency room doctor for more than 25 years, and has described himself as a Cuban immigrant who fought for the American Dream. He dropped his bid for governor and instead chose to run for U.S. Senate early in the election cycle. Previously, he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2020, losing in the primary. Garcia calls himself a moderate conservative, and says he takes a “common sense” approach to policy issues. 

Hundreds of ballots were damaged after a Clark County ballot box was found burning in the Fisher’s Landing neighborhood of Vancouver Monday morning. A suspicious device was found next to the box, Vancouver police said.

A similar incident had been reported about an hour earlier across the river in Portland, damaging three ballots. Police say the incidents likely are connected.

Around 4 a.m. Monday, the Vancouver Police Department received a call about the ballot box at 3510 SE 164th Ave. smoking and on fire. The FBI also is investigating the incident, police said.

Ballots suffered both fire and water damage, though the full extent is not yet known. While all Clark County ballot boxes were freshly equipped this year with fire suppression devices, it did not prevent the damage in this incident, Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told Cascade PBS. Some ballots were able to be processed and counted, he said.

Elections officials in Clark County are drying the ballots for a more accurate assessment of the damage, and will contact affected voters, Kimsey said. He said the county will also mail replacement ballots to those affected, with an explanation of what happened. Kimsey also encouraged voters who deposited their ballots at that drop box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact the county to get a new ballot. Voters can also check their ballot status at voter.votewa.gov.

Kimsey said Clark County elections will also collect ballots from its 23 drop boxes by 5:30 p.m. between now and the election, and encouraged voters to get their ballots in before the boxes are emptied. Law enforcement will also step up patrols near the drop boxes, Kimsey said.

It is the second time in a month that a Clark County ballot box was targeted with a suspicious device. The earlier incident took place Oct. 8, before general election ballots had been sent to voters.

Vancouver is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, which has a closely contested race between U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA3) and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

Ballots for November’s general election are due to be mailed to voters Friday, Oct. 18. Voters need to submit their ballots to a drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, or postmarked by that day. Many counties, such as King, Thurston and Spokane, are ahead of the game and have already sent them out. Washington has been a vote-by-mail state since 2011.

Voters this year will weigh in on numerous issues, including preferences for U.S. President, U.S. Senator and congressional representatives as well as 12 statewide Washington races: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of public lands, insurance commissioner, auditor, treasurer and three state Supreme Court positions. State lawmakers in the House of Representatives and half of the state senators are also up for election this year.

Voters statewide will also be asked about four ballot initiatives: Initiative 2109 to repeal the state’s capital gains tax, I-2117 to repeal the state’s cap-and-invest program, I-2124 to make the Washington Cares program optional instead of mandatory and I-2066 to prohibit bans on natural gas usage.

Local races are on the ballot as well, with hundreds of county commissioners, district judges and local measures on the ballot. Seattle will decide on a special election for a city council seat and a transportation levy on the ballot.

You can check out the Cascade PBS Voter Guide to learn more about the candidates and issues. To check your ballot status, you can look at the voter portal at the Washington Secretary of State’s website. If you don’t receive your ballot by mail, you can contact your county elections office. If you haven’t yet registered to vote or need to change your registration, you can do it online or through the mail by Oct. 28, or in person at your local county elections office by election day, Nov. 5.

For those who want to see debates between the candidates for secretary of state and insurance commissioner, the League of Women Voters of Washington has you covered. 

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) will face Republican challenger Dale Whitaker, and state senators Phil Fortunato (R-Auburn) and Patty Kuderer (D-Bellevue) will debate over the open seat for insurance commissioner at an event that starts at 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Edmonds College Black Box Theater in Lynnwood.

Kuderer and Fortunato will start with the insurance commissioner debate at 6:30 p.m. Whitaker and Hobbs will follow at 7:15 p.m. The League of Women Voters of Washington and Snohomish County are organizing the debates. The event is open to the public.

Both debates will be recorded and live-streamed by TVW, and the organizers invite the public to submit questions for the candidates in advance by emailing forumquestions@lwvwa.org.

These are two of the nine statewide races that voters will decide in this year’s general election. Election day is Nov. 5 and ballots will be mailed to voters on Oct. 18.  

A hand recount in the Commissioner of Public Lands race shows that Democrat Dave Upthegrove has the votes to face off against former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, the Republican who came in first place in the August primary. The mandatory recount found nearly identical results between the second- and third-place candidates.

Upthegrove defeated Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson for second place, with 396,304 votes to 396,255 – a difference of 49 votes. The total was finalized and updated after King County certified its votes on Wednesday. Upthegrove gained six votes in the recount and Kuehl Pederson gained four. The unofficial count was posted to the Secretary of State’s website on Tuesday, and was certified Wednesday at noon.

The recount was triggered when the initial count found that 51 votes out of 1.9 million cast separated them for second and third place after the primary was certified last month. Both campaigns “cured” thousands of ballots in the weeks between the primary day and the certification deadline by contacting voters whose ballots were rejected because of fixable errors.

In a primary, the state requires an automatic hand recount when the difference between the second- and third-place candidates is less than one quarter of one percent and also less than 1,000 votes.

In a top-two primary, the two candidates with the most votes face each other in the general election, regardless of party. This year in the Commissioner of Public Lands primary, about 42% of voters chose one of the two Republicans, and about 57% of voters chose one of the five Democrats. No single candidate got more than 22% of the vote.

The Commissioner of Public Lands position oversees the state’s Department of Natural Resources, which includes managing nearly six million acres of state-owned public lands and the state’s response to wildfires.

The general election is Nov. 5.

Update 3 p.m. September 4, 2024: This article has been updated with the certified and finalized recount numbers.