It's a good time to point out all the positives Oliver brought to the primary. She was in first and helped raise many important issues to Seattle's voters. I also think the greater than expected turn out has a lot to do with her bringing new voters into the election and old cynics back to voting. We should look forward to her next mic drop.

@1

The good time to point out all the positives Oliver brought to the primary was during the campaign.

Now is the time to point out the negative she is bringing to the primary, in refusing to concede a race that she has very clearly lost.

I'll never understand this ridiculous demand that politicians "concede" before the count is over. What does it accomplish? The votes are still going to be counted. In the .0001% chance she actually somehow comes back and wins, her concession is meaningless. It'll all be over in less than a week either way. We've got three whole months before the general, it's not like we're missing valuable electoral activities between Moon and Durkan now. Moon clearly doesn't care that she hasn't formally conceded. She's not trying to sew doubt about the legitimacy of the vote, as far as I know. Who cares if she doesn't make a meaningless formal concession a few days before the count is over? How could it possibly matter?

I would love it if Carry Moon immediately hired Nikkita Oliver as soon as the election is over, ala DNC's Perez/Ellison. They're both awesome and I'd love to see them work together.

@4

It's less a "demand" that anyone is making of politicians, than a way for politicians to show that they recognize the validity of the electoral process, and can handle adversity gracefully.

A politician who concedes a clearly decided race is a politician thinking about her future in politics-- one who wants to show the electorate she can recognize when things haven't gone her way, and is willing to and able to move forward from that setback without wasting time and resources pursuing a lost cause. It's a pretty important aspect of leadership.

@5 yes and I'll be happy with the election results either way although I voted for Farrell (mainly due to her political experience, not to any big policy differences). Oliver and Moon both are clearly preferable to Durkan and, once in office, either will likely be a big improvement over (at least) the past four mayors.

Oh, and no, I don't think Oliver should concede nor Moon declare victory. They're both handling this situation exactly right IMO - clearly signalling their ultimate general-election support for each other, encouraging ballot-curing efforts, and otherwise letting the process take its course as it's supposed to. Bravo.

@4:
It's because there is work to be done, including money to be raised, for the general election in this case. Or do you think this all happens in a bubble? Every day of delay benefits Durkan.

27.9%? Durkan's in trouble.

@5, I second this. If they team up on the campaign trail and in office, it'll be as close to a sure-thing as you can get. Oliver for deputy mayor!

Time for Oliver to grow up and concede.

@10

17.6%? Moon's in trouble.

Or does this only work if you rilly rilly hate the candidate?

@13 It is safe to assume that the majority of us who voted for Oliver in the Primary will be voting for Moon in the General. Not all, of course, but enough of us to effectively tie them. Had Durkan polled closer to a majority of the voters, her position would have been stronger. Durkan has to pick up more of the other candidates' supporters than Moon does to win in November.

Haha, my only request was that the candidate TS hated the most wins. And she will. Oh happy day.

@14

I don't think it's even safe to assume that those who voted for Oilver in the primary will vote in the general at all.

The real question, though, is how people who didn't vote in the primary will vote in the general-- this will be a much larger bloc of voters than everyone who voted in the primary for all the candidates other than Durkan, combined.

Keep in mind that primary voters tend to be much more politically engaged, and tend to lean away from the center compared to people who only vote in general elections. The idea that Moon will collect 72% of the vote in the general because Durkan collected 27% in the primary is... well, let's say "statistically unsound."

#12: Nikkita has been calm and gracious in the post-primary period. She isn't trashing Moon or otherwise doing any harm. And she can't concede and still work to help make sure people's votes get counted. Also, there's going to be a mandatory machine recount due to the fact that Moon's lead for second is less than 2000 votes. That will be dealt with within the next couple of weeks. This will be all settled before Labor Day and that will leave a solid two months to get together and beat Durkan. Chill.

@16

"she can't concede and still work to help make sure people's votes get counted"

I'm fairly certain she could do both., but for whatever reason, that isn't what she's doing.

As to the mandatory machine recount:

"Machine recounts are required when the vote total difference between two candidates is less than 2,000 votes and also less than 0.5% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates."

[source: King County]

Votes for Oliver, to date: 31145
Votes for Moon, to date: 32446
Total: 63591. Difference: 1301. Difference as percentage of total: 2.05%

The mandatory recount will not be triggered. If there is a recount, it will be because one of the candidates has requested one, and provided the funds to pay for it (refundable if results are reversed).