Prepaid postage ballots approved by Council
No Stamp? No Problem! The Metropolitan King County Council today approved legislation allowing the Department of Elections to send voters postage-paid envelopes to return their ballots in this year’s primary and general elections.
“Increasing accessibility to free and fair democratic elections is central to all of our civic institutions,” said Councilmember Dave Upthegrove, chair of the council’s Budget Committee and prime sponsor of the legislation. “This measure puts a ballot box at the end of every driveway, and I’m excited to be a part of its passage.”
“Voting is the foundation of our democracy. By eliminating the postage ‘poll tax,’ King County is taking an important step to dismantle a barrier that keeps some from exercising their right to vote,” said Councilmember Rod Dembowski, co-sponsor of the ordinance.
Washington became a vote-by-mail state in 2011. While the Council and King County Elections worked to increase the number of ballot drop boxes available to voters throughout the county, approximately half of the ballots received are still sent by mail. Prior to today’s action all voters were personally required to place postage on their ballot.
In prior elections, when a voter forgot to place on stamp on a ballot, some post offices would send the ballot to King County regardless, but would charge the county $1.70—more than three times the current postage rate. Other post offices would not forward the ballot at all.
“We should be doing everything in our power to improve access to democracy countywide and I am confident that prepaid postage will go a long way towards doing just that by breaking down barriers to participation,” said Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, co-sponsor of the ordinance. “I’m confident that our action today will result in prepaid postage on ballots being implemented statewide.”
“Prepaid postage has been proven to increase voting in a cost-effective way,” Said King County Council Vice Chair Claudia Balducci. “I commend our King County Elections Director for continually looking for ways to improve voter participation in our elections, which is so fundamental to our democratic form of self-government.”
The measure is widely expected to increase voter access and participation. Elections conducted a pilot project this winter, sending 65,000 voters in Shoreline and Maple Valley prepaid return envelopes. The percentage of total ballots returned by mail during the pilot was 74-percent. This was a vast increase compared to 43-percent participation in the 2016 General Election.
The legislation now allows election officials to send prepaid return envelopes to all voters, but with the US Postal Service charging King County a rate of 50 cents for those returned by mail. Wise and county election officials estimate a 10 percent increase in the number of ballots returned by mail rather than drop boxes with prepaid postage.
The legislation passed Council with a 7-2 vote. In support of the measure were Councilmembers Upthegrove, Dembowski, Kohl-Welles, Balducci, Gossett, McDermott and von Reichbauer. Councilmembers Dunn and Lambert voted in opposition.
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Bloodworks Northwest is holding an Apheresis and Whole Blood Drive, Friday, May 11
On Friday, May 11 Bloodworks Northwest is hosting a blood and apheresis drive on the first floor of the Chinook Building, Room 123. The blood drive is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed between 11 to 11:45 a.m.
To make an appointment, click here. For questions on eligibility, call 1-800-398-7888.
You can also sign up for Apheresis:
Click here to make an appointment for platelets or call 1-800-398-7888 for plasma.
- To schedule a Platelet donation appointment online via same link above, select Plateletpheresis for a Platelet donation from the Donation Type drop down (default says Whole Blood).
- To schedule a Plasma donation appointment call 1-800-398-7888. Only AB+ and AB- donors can donate plasma.
- Appointments available at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- NO aspirin or aspirin containing products for 48 hours prior to donating platelets.
Here are some simple guidelines that will help you identify the best apheresis donation for your blood type.
- Platelets (O+, A+, B+): Platelets are essential from donors with these blood types and are often used to help cancer patients. They only last for 5 days! The process takes about 2 hours.
- Plasma (AB+, AB-): AB types are the universal donors for plasma, which is often used to treat burn victims and others with serious trauma injuries. The process takes about 1 and a half hours. Only AB+, AB- can donate plasma. Please call 1-800-398-7888 to schedule an appointment for plasma.
When you donate, please remember to eat a good meal, drink plenty of water, and bring a photo I.D.
For more information visit www.BloodworksNW.org/drives (Sponsor Code: 6500). Follow Bloodworks Northwest on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Give the gift that lasts a lifetime! Donate Blood!
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Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird retires after 36 years
Jeff Baird, senior prosecuting attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, retired after decades of service to the residents of King County. His last day was April 30, and he was recently featured in a story in The Seattle Times.
Baird began working with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office during the summers while a law student at the University of Washington in the late ‘70s. Since then, Jeff has spent his career working on the “something really horrible” cases, including the prosecution of three serial killers in Washington: Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer; DeWayne Lee Harris, nicknamed “Chilly Willy”; and George Russell, dubbed, “The Charmer.”
Baird also started the office’s Most Dangerous Offender Program, and has worked side-by-side with investigation teams including forensic scientists, the medical examiner, and crime scene investigators since the program’s inception. MDOP prosecutors are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week in order to be present at every suspicious death scene in King County.
Sara Jean Green, staff reporter with the Seattle Times, wrote a great piece on Baird’s career Thursday.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg shared with Green, “(Jeff) has become, in our office, the guru of homicide prosecutors. He is a brilliant man and he has a disturbing insight into the criminal mind.”
Seattle Police Homicide Detective Rolf Norton also told Green of his own experience with Baird. “It’s not just prosecutors,” said Norton, “he has trained a generation of homicide detectives. Every detective in this county who has worked with Jeff is a better detective because of it.” Norton added, “Jeff Baird has just an impossible combination of genius, tenacity, compassion and humility. He’s always the smartest person in the room but he never wants anybody to know that.”
Baird’s profile can be viewed on our site, and Green’s article can be found on the Seattle Times’ site.
Thank you for your service, Jeff Baird!
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Big Backyard 5K presented by Kaiser Permanente on June 3
Have you registered yet? There’s still time. Individuals, kids, groups, and teams can register today for the 9th Annual King County Parks Big Backyard 5K Run/Walk and Kids’ Dash. The BBY5K is dog, stroller and family friendly!
Sign up online through June 1 and in-person on race weekend. All who register get t-shirts, snacks, a chance to win prizes and, of course, lots of family fun at Marymoor Park in Redmond. Prices vary depending on sign up date.
Get $20 off your registration fee using discount Code KPThrive
Kaiser Permanente* wants to help King County employees thrive! If you are one of the first 250 people to enter discount code KPThrive when you sign up for the BBY5K, you’ll get $20 off your race or walk fees. Discount applies to individual registrations only.
Will you be ready?
If this is your first race, there are a few things you should know to make it the healthiest, most fun experience possible.
Read about 9 essential training tips for beginners from our partners at Kaiser Permanente Washington.
* Kaiser Permanente refers to Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington
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Celebrating your service during Public Service Recognition Week
Dear fellow King County employee,
King County Executive Dow Constantine
This week we celebrate Public Service Recognition Week and the people who have dedicated their careers to serving their communities.
You chose a public service career because you believe in the power of public service to create positive change and make a difference in people’s lives. You chose a career with King County because you believe in our work to make this a better, fairer place for the people who live and work here.
The services you provide are wide-ranging and varied, but they all have the common goal of helping people in our region live well and thrive, today and for generations to come.
Almost every day I meet employees from across this vast, complex organization, and your dedication and commitment to your customers is a constant inspiration to me, as are your success stories, innovations and lessons learned.
You give your best every day to serve your customers, sometimes under challenging conditions, and always with the goal of breaking down barriers and improving lives.
Thank you for everything that you do for the people of King County. I am proud to lead this County and proud to be your colleague in public service.
Sincerely,
Dow Constantine
King County Executive
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Prosecutor partners to end sex trafficking
Crossposted from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Facebook
Even before Liam Neeson’s film, “Taken” hit movie screens in 2008, Tanya Fernandez had the notion that sex trafficking involved kidnapping young girls and forcing them into the commercial sex trade against their will, but that’s not the reality.
Tanya Fernandez, Education Director with Seattle Against Slavery
Tanya learned what trafficking actually looks like while running youth programs in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. and volunteering as a rape crisis counselor for sex trafficking victims.
“Every victim I worked with, I kept thinking, ‘How can I build a time machine and meet every person who has exploited you or let you down?’ because these victims have had a LOT of people let them down. They have been let down by negligence. Or they have been aggressively exploited in every way,” Tanya explains. “I’d think, ‘If I had a time machine, I’d go back and undo so many things for these victims.’ Moving to Seattle and working on a prevention program for exploitation is the next best thing to building a time machine.”
Tanya is now the education director for Seattle Against Slavery, an organization that works to fight sexual exploitation in the community. SAS is an important community partner of the prosecutor’s office. Tanya runs programs through area high schools to teach teens about healthy relationships, consent, and what sexual exploitation really is. She talked with us about some common myths around sex trafficking.
Myth #1: Sex Trafficking Involves Kidnapping and Force A lot of trafficking is mental coercion rather than physical force. Individuals who are already marginalized through things like poverty, race, abuse, or an absence of close family or community relationships are susceptible to being manipulated into consenting to commercial sex. “We picture someone who is taken and held against their will because we can’t imagine someone being manipulated into consenting,” Tanya says. “The truth is, someone is still a sex trafficking victim even if she doesn’t look like someone who was kidnapped and kept against her will.”
Myth #2: Young Victims Choose This “If you are under the age of 18 and participating in the sex industry in any way, it’s always sex trafficking,” Tanya says. “The truth is, someone is still a sex trafficking victim even though she doesn’t look like someone who was kidnapped and kept against her will. A lot of sex trafficking is boyfriend pimping. It is someone—usually an older male—who poses as someone who really cares about a person and manipulates them. It’s a girl who did not get to make a choice, but she feels very strongly that she did.”
Myth #3: Sex Trafficking Doesn’t Happen in the United States “People are starting to wise up to the idea that ‘Okay, this does happen in some places in Seattle.’ But we still have very specific stereotypes in mind of what a buyer looks like, what a pimp looks like, and what a victim looks like. We’re finding that a lot of those are really false,” Tanya says. “A lot of exploiters and traffickers and pimps that [King County] prosecuted recently are affluent white guys. Yet, when we think of pimps, we think of a person of color.”
And when we think of victims, we think of Liam Neeson’s daughter in “Taken” instead of girls of color who are disadvantaged and marginalized from the start. “These victims often don’t have great relationships with adults in their lives who can act as a litmus test for them,” Tanya says. Without healthy relationships with adults as reference points, they are unable to discern signs of unhealthy or problematic relationships.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office is proud of community partners like Seattle Against Slavery and the work they do to combat exploitation. To find out more about the work of Seattle Against Slavery, visit them at www.seattleagainstslavery.org or follow them on Facebook at Seattle Against Slavery.
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Kudos! to the King County Medic One team
The King County Medic One team gave a Facebook
tip-of-the-hat to “the good citizen” who reported a good deed by the team to the Seattle Times RAVE section. Good citizenship all around, including by our King County team members!
From Medic One’s post on Facebook: “Thank you to the good citizen who reported the following to the Rave Section of the Seattle Times RAVE: ‘To the medic from a King County Medic One who, as he was leaving Trader Joe’s, noticed a young mother juggling a baby and many bags of groceries to be loaded into her car. He took the time to set down his groceries and load the many bags for her so she wouldn’t have to juggle her little one and her bags. Such a wonderful display of simple human kindness that brought smiles to all of us who witnessed it!’”
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Featured Job: Ballot Collection & Logistics Supervisor
Closing: 05/13/18 11:59 PM (GMT -8:00)
Salary: $31.49 – $39.91 Hourly
Location: King County Elections – 919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057-2906
Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hrs/week
Department: Department of Elections
Job Number: 2018-08063
Description: This is an amazing opportunity to be engaged in the election process! The Department of Elections is recruiting a Ballot Collection & Logistics Supervisor. Under the direction of the Elections Services Manager, this position will provide logistical support for ballot collection and the necessary fleet and warehouse tasks aligned with this work. Duties include the supervision of ballot drop box collection program including: planning and logistics for the operations and support of ballot collection, training of short-term temporary staff, dispatching of driving teams and closers, oversee procedures for securely receiving and processing of ballots, and customer relations with vendors and external customers.
Contact: For more information, contact Queniya Lassiter at 206-477-3773 or Queniya.Lassiter@KingCounty.gov.
Learn more about this position or all available jobs.
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Social Media Spotlight: EcoConsumer on YouTube
Green spring fashion, sustainable communities and indoor air quality are just three of the topics you can enjoy learning more about on EcoConsumer’s YouTube channel! KOMO4 News features the team discussing a number of topics; most recently, Earth Day. EcoConsumer is a public outreach program of DNRP’s Solid Waste Division.
Follow King County EcoConsumer on YouTube today.
Click here to view all King County social media pages.
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Japanese-American Remembrance Trail Map
Crossposted from GIS & You
By Patrick Jankanish, GIS Specialist and Senior Cartographer with KCIT
One of the most satisfying things that a well-made map can do is convey a sense of place. And an especially well-made map may convey a sense of a past place that both infuses and transcends a present location. I came across such a map yesterday just a few blocks from our own King County GIS Center location, where Seattle’s Pioneer Square transitions to the International District, specifically the historic Japantown.
The “Japanese-American Remembrance Trail Map” somehow seems larger than its modest tabloid print size, due in no small part to the numerous delightful and intriguing hand-drawn illustrations of people and places throughout the ID that are spread across the map, fusing past and present. For us in the present, the map serves as a walking tour of current sights, sounds, tastes, and touch, which can all be gateways to the rich Japanese American legacy in Seattle, a cultural story that continues into our city’s future. (Coincidentally, as I write this I am hearing a radio announcement for this weekend’s—April 20-22—Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Cultural Festival, which two of my KCGIS Center colleagues will be participating in.)
Japanese American Remembrance Trail Map by Arisa Nakamura ©2018
The trail map—as useful as it is a great piece of art—was designed and illustrated by Seattle’s Arisa Nakamura. Read more about her work on the map in this article in The North American Post. The map is available in separate English- and Japanese-language versions at locations throughout the Chinatown/International District, including the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, which is one of the anchors of the Japanese American Remembrance Trail. The Wing Luke Museum website has a section about the trail tour and links to PDF files of both versions of the map.
As the late winter, early spring chill finally relinquishes its grip on Seattle, it’s the perfect time to put on your walking shoes and let a wonderful map lead you through and teach you about a special part of our city.
Patrick Jankanish is Senior Cartographer in the King County GIS Center and is a member of its Spatial Services group.
Read more at GIS & You.
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