Confused to be getting a ballot this soon after the November election? We don't want to hear it. The only reason we're having an election right now is because you, the voters, decided last November that we needed another election to decide who should run elections around here.

So here we are, three months after the last election, voting for King County Elections director—an obscure, mostly administrative job that involves making sure ballots go out on time, ensuring that votes are counted correctly, and certifying election results as quickly as possible.

Sound boring? It is! But—and you're not going to see this coming—this election is important! And filling out your ballot will take you less time than it takes to read this endorsement! And you're all invited to our King County Elections Director Elections Night Election Returns Watching Party down at the Showbox! We'll be partying on the streets of Seattle until 4:00 a.m.!

Why should you vote for Sherril Huff? Well, consider the competition. It includes: Chris Clifford, a Republican schoolteacher from Renton who's also leading the effort to recall port commissioner Pat Davis; former Republican King County Council member—and emerging crank candidate—David Irons, who allegedly beat his own mother; disgraced former elections director Julie Anne Kempf, who was fired after she allegedly mailed ballots out late and lied about it; Pam Roach, a gun-totin' Republican state senator with a vendetta against the King County Council and a violent passion for flowers; and Bill Anderson, a former bank manager who says he's qualified to count votes because "votes are like checks," but otherwise seems harmless enough.

Huff, in contrast, is competent, sane, and highly qualified. As elections director, she's overseen steady improvement at an elections office whose incompetence was at the center of a Republican challenge to Governor Christine Gregoire's win in 2004. She shouldn't have to run for her job, but she deserves to keep it. recommended