Julie Wise

Julie Wise Courtesy Julie Wise

It’s dumb as shit that we elect the director of King County Elections. The SECB called this whole electing-our-elections-director idea “stupid” back in 2007, but the voters defied the will of the SECB, and so today we elect people to this post—and even today, electing people to this post remains a stupid fucking idea. This is a job that calls for a hired technocrat who’s willing to piss some people off sometimes, not a crowd-pleasing, glad-handing politician. Fortunately, Julie Wise, who’s been with the elections department for 13 years and is now its deputy director, is basically a technocrat in political drag. She tells us she’s “in love with elections,” and we believe her. You’d have to be to toil away in the department of electionszzzzzzz…. Sorry, we fell asleep for a week trying to finish that sentence.

The Stranger Election Control Board is composed of staff writers and editors who volunteer to grill, research, fight over, and ultimately endorse candidates running for office in local, state, and federal...