King County's All-Mail Voting Delivers a Statewide Impact

Graphic from Washington State Elections

King County's estimated population is 1.9 million, of which almost 1.1 million are registered voters. Mid-term elections are historically less likely to draw people to the polls, but with all-mail voting, King County doesn't have to draw people anywhere but a mailbox. The result? A new record: 71 percent of King County's voters cast a ballot this year.

That might seem less impressive compared to the 84 percent turnout for the Presidential election in 2008, but it beats 2006's 65 percent, and 2002's 45 percent, handily. The rest of Washington state grumbles about King County "stealing" elections, but the county's impact is thanks to reality's well-known liberal bias: Only 3.6 million of Washington State's 6.6 million residents are registered voters, about 55 percent.

King County, the single most populous county, also has an edge in registered voters, at 58 percent. These marginal differences--in registered voters, in voter turnout--often make the difference. Senator Patty Murray's win this year is a case in point. Statewide, the Murray/Rossi race comes out to roughly 51 to 49 percent, but in King County it's currently breaking 63 to 36 percent, and King Country represents fully one-third of the state's registered voters. (In 2004, King County went for Murray over Nethercutt, 65 to 33 percent.)

Murray is winning in just eight counties out of Washington's 39, but in only three of those counties (King, Jefferson, and Thurston) is her margin more than six percent. That's the King County difference. Ironically, the more densely populated King County becomes (a trend mocked and disparaged by much of our lebensraum-loving state) the greater impact it will have on the state's political fortunes.