Whatcom County at 74,322 Votes Counted

A meager four thousand plus  ballots were counted over the weekend on Saturday. Linville's comeback attempt slipped a bit. Melious continued to slip further behind T. Larson. Essentially, all the other Dems who had extended their leads in recent counts, continued to do so. (Murray, Larsen, Lytton, Morris). The losing Democrats (Jerns, Jensen, Wiggins) held about even. It is unlikely that the last 12,000 votes will change any of this, with the longshot exception of Linville.  An increase in her voting might at least force a recount.  The ballot counting will probably conclude Tuesday, barring unforeseen consequences.

I find it important that the total votes for the federal county wide races (Murray, R. Larsen) are roughly nine thousand more than Melious/T. Larson county seat race.  (This phenomena is known as "fall off".) The initial ballot count on 'opening night' had the total participation between the races with about 5K difference.  The last two ballot counts have really opened up that gap to 9K.  I would suggest that is indicative that recent ballots counted had less interest in the county seat. Participation in the  40th state district in Whatcom County is remarkably equal (>10 votes) for both seats. This suggests  a very committed and  liberal block in the 40th that has given over 60% of the vote to both Morris and Lytton. The 40th state district plus the 42nd state district  total participation are nearly equal to Murray/Rossi turnouts. Clearly, were all of Whatcom County one district, it is unlikely that any Republicans would serve here in elected capacity. Interestingly enough, Morris and Lytton are not winning either Island or Skagit (where they both reside).  If Skagit/Island were one state district and Whatcom/San Juan another, the representation would clearly be Republican for Skagit/Island and Democratic for Whatcom/San Juan.


San Juan County is indisputably the most Democratic/Progressive vote in the WA State by percentage. It is  the only county with a chance of passing Initiative 1098 (pro Income Tax), which currently leads there, by a slim margin.  However unpopulated it may be, San Juan County is playing a critical role in this election for Murray, Rossi, Morris, Lytton.  It is either ironic or predictable, I suppose, that the only County who would vote for an income tax is the County with quite possibly the highest real estate valuations in WA state.

November 2, 2010

Certification Date:	11/23/2010
Number of Precincts:	120
Number of Registered Voters:	116576
Total Ballots Cast:	74322
Ballots Left to Count:	12000
Next Ballot Count On:	Nov 8 2010 7:30PM
Last Tabulated:	Nov 8 2010 10:40AM
Voter Turnout:	63.75%

[Whatcom County Results for 11/6/2010 with 12,000 ballots left to count]

Patty Murray	37883	72993	51.9
Dino Rossi	35110	72993	48.1
John Koster	34456	72871	47.28
Rick Larsen	38415	72871	52.72
Kristine Lytton	12261	20048	61.16
Mike Newman	7787	20048	38.84
Jeff Morris	12138	20058	60.51
John Swapp	7920	20058	39.49
Doug Ericksen	31089	51623	60.22
Pat Jerns	20534	51623	39.78
Jason Overstreet	27433	51517	53.25
Al Jensen	24084	51517	46.75
Vincent Buys	26367	52019	50.69
Kelli Linville	25652	52019	49.31
Richard B. Sanders	29939	58643	51.05
Charlie Wiggins	28704	58643	48.95
Jean Melious	28066	63915	43.91
Tony Larson	35849	63915	56.09