"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”- Winston Churchill

The era of far left wing politics in Seattle is ending, just like communism it will be relighted to the dung heap of history.

I say, its time to return to a center democratic position, one of reason, probity, law and order.

We've had our fill of the far let agenda which espouses no personal responsibility for ones actions, lawlessness, hate, class warfare, intimidation and attacks on self expression and personal freedom when one disagrees with their manifesto or agenda.

Be Gone Sawant ... Your day is over and you have no power here!

The thing is, you do have a picture of what's happening. You're just not being candid with your readers.

This recall election is unique because such a high percentage (41%) of the ballots have been counted on the first night. Historically the first night turnout count is under 30%, as it was in the 2019 and 2021 City of Seattle general elections. That means there were far more ballots left to count on general election night in 2019 and 2021 than there are in this recall election. This dramatically reduces Sawant's margin for error. She has to get a higher percentage of the outstanding votes in this election than anybody did in the 2019 or 2021 general elections, because there's fewer votes left to count.

For example, when you look at the total turnout in 2019, Sawant needed to get 53% of the outstanding ballots that were counted after election night. She got 57% of the outstanding ballots, so she obviously won. If you were to assume the same turnout in this election as in 2019, Sawant would need to get 57% of the outstanding ballots to win. That's not impossible, but it's more difficult than what she did in 2019. Again, it shows her margin for error in this election is razor thin based on what's happened in the past. And if you assume a lower turnout in this recall than in her 2019 election, Sawant would likely need to get around 60% or more of the outstanding ballots. That's a higher percentage than she got in 2019.

She could still win. If the drop today has her winning 60/40, she has a shot. If the drop today has her winning 55/45, she's done.

The analysis here is straightforward. You could be explicit and present these various scenarios to your readers. But you're not, because for this entire recall election you've assumed your readers are stupid and you're doing it again now.

Give The Stranger some credit. It has been unfailingly strident in its support of Sawant. The fact that she's a sociopathic champagne socialist who is uniquely unfit for office has had no bearing on The Stranger's championing of Sawant. When you're that far down the rabbit hole with your ideology there's really no choice but to rabidly defend it.

@7 I'm sure snuff movies are entertaining to the right people. Watching democracy die high on your list of kinks?

The commenters here are more enlightened than the supposed "journalist" Rich.

@11 Yes, Sawant can run in 2022 and she will. And then again in 2023. So, thanks to this recall election, we get two unnecessary elections featuring the recall supporters' favorite politician...one election per year, three years in a row. If you all are sick of her now, just wait! LOL

Oops, my 13 comment was directed @12, not @11.

The recallers were politically smart to intentionally avoid the November ballot. Since NTK almost won the city attorney race last month, surely Sawant would have beat the recall.

I hope the "racist recall" final result lets us sing "the Queen is dead, God save the Queen." A maharani we don't need.

"Sawant needed to get 53% of the outstanding ballots that were counted after election night. She got 57% of the outstanding ballots, so she obviously won. If you were to assume the same turnout in this election as in 2019, Sawant would need to get 57% of the outstanding ballots to win. That's not impossible, but it's more difficult than what she did in 2019. "

Is that not exactly what she did? But you definitely make a valid point about comparing projections when the proportion of outstanding ballots is not the same.