Seattle, you’re terrible at voting in special elections. According to the county’s website, in the April 2023 Special Election, nearly 1.4 million voters were registered in King County, but a measly 30.86 percent returned their ballots. Yikes! (Compare that to the 81 percent of King County’s registered voters who participated in the November General Election.)

This year, our Special Election is in February (tomorrow!), and it’s an important one. Both social housing and money for schools are on the ballot. But as of this morning, only 16 percent of registered voters in King County have returned their ballots. 

We have to do better! And yes, I say “we” because, admittedly, I am part of that lazy/tired/busy 84 percent who have yet to vote. My ballot is also just sitting right here, unopened and unloved. Let’s change that together!

To brush up on what’s on the ballot, check out our February 2025 Special Election Voting Guide. 

Just wanna skip to the answers? Cool. For Propositions Nos 1A and 1B  first vote YES, and then vote for Proposition 1A. 

We explain why in our endorsement, but for even more information on why you should support 1A, read about what we found when we dug into the contribution records. It turns out a lot of rich, non-Seattle folks and Amazon are pushing really hard for 1B. Always suspicious! 

For schools, vote yes on both Proposition 1 and Proposition 2. Money for schools!—even if you’re grumpy about the whole school-closures debacle. Kids still have to show up in those buildings every day; we don’t give them a choice. 

You have until 8 pm tomorrow to slip your ballot into one of the many ballot boxes around town (find your closest option here)! (While you can generally send it in by mail, it’s a little late in the game to guarantee it’d be postmarked in time—dropping it in a ballot box is your best bet at this point.) Not registered? There’s still time to do that, too! You can register and vote in person on election day at the King County Elections Office.