With one day left before polls close on the 2021 election, campaigns are in a mad dash to the finish line. Voters have some of the starkest candidate choices in recent memory, and activists on both sides have emphasized how much is at stake.
“Don’t wanna sound hyperbolic but this Tuesday’s election might be Seattle’s most important in a while,” progressive organizer and writer Dae Shik Kim Hawkins Jr tweeted Friday. “Seattle could have a majority WOC [women of color] progressive council or one that sweeps encampments. City Attorney will either be abolitionist or MAGA [Make America Great Again]. Mayor either pro-corporate or pro-labor.”
Progressive candidates are urging supporters to vote, citing the King County Elections is projecting just 50% turnout in Seattle. Some also noted that even-year elections would be more fair and democratic given the higher turnout in those years with federal and state races also on the ballot. The 2020 presidential year saw an all-time record turnout rate in King County with 86.67% of registered voters participating — and an even higher percentage in Seattle.
