Political Pix

It’s election season, and again we Americans have the opportunity to enjoy a complicated, personality-based, and money-driven voting process. After all, that keeps the shaggier two-thirds of the population away from the polls, right? You wouldn’t want a simplified, proportional, party-based vote with public financing, like most of those pinko Western European countries with 80 percent participation and multiple parties, would you?? You WOULD?! Heck, the next crazy thing YOU’LL be saying is that healthcare is a RIGHT and not a PRIVILEGE!!

Ever heard anybody ranting like that? A cynical coworker, parent, relative, or schoolmate? All the more reason to get active and make our system a better, more humane and inclusive one. One small step toward this is to vote. Sometimes some really good people are running for office, but the problem is knowing who exactly they are. Since anyone can call him/herself a Republican, Democrat, or Green and get on the ballot, any weasel with an easy-to-spell Anglo name and monied connections (enough to buy ads) has an automatic advantage in manipulating the system in whatever way they please. As a result there is very little character oversight of candidates, except for the endorsements conducted by the parties themselves, the press, unions, and other advocacy groups, which get pretty difficult to track. As a non-profit, the Free Press can’t make such endorsements, but we can tell you who other groups are endorsing. This year, we thought we’d ask three local parties who they have endorsed. It’s our wish that this info will help simplify the matter for you when you fill out your ballot. And by the way, if you haven’t already done it, it’s good to sign up for the “ongoing absentee” ballot when you register or reregister. The ballot will be conveniently sent to your home each time, and you will receive it days in advance, which stimulates your will to become informed, so you aren’t just tempted to cover your eyes and randomly dimple a chad. If you like the following “cheat sheet,” for the primaries, then it may also come in handy for the finals in November (our next Free Press issue won’t come out till after the final vote). Apologies if this list does not include your area. If you would like to volunteer to track down a more complete set of endorsements next year, please contact us at WAfreepress@gmail.com.

*The Dems and Repubs have no preprimary endorsements among multiple contenders for this seat. Dems view the seat as crucial to winning a house majority, but Greens fear that after winning a majority, sole Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (Dem, Seattle) would push for the “Louisiana Primary” system, in which only the two top vote-getters advance to the final election. Greens see this as bad for smaller parties, which would then have an extremely difficult time advancing to the finals.