ELECTION
Vote for pro-labor candidates in the primary
(July 23, 2018) — If you’re registered to vote in Washington state, you should have received your primary election ballot in the mail by now. (If you are not registered yet, you can still sign up in person through July 30 at your local election office.) Mail ballots must be returned by Tuesday, Aug. 7. But why wait? Fill it out NOW and make sure your vote counts!
At last week’s Washington State Labor Council 2018 Convention, union delegates from across Washington voted to endorse more candidates, supplementing the list of recommendations made at the WSLC’s political endorsement convention in May. Check out the updated list to see which candidates have earned your union’s endorsement.
As was made abundantly clear in the last presidential election, sitting out elections can dramatically affect you, your family, and your country. Your wages, health insurance, retirement, union contract (if you are fortunate enough to have one), and the very values of our nation are all at stake with the outcome. In 2016, just 26 percent of Americans voted for Donald Trump, but he won because about 48 percent of eligible voters — nearly half — didn’t bother to vote. In 2018, voters will decide whether to elect members of Congress who will hold Trump accountable, and whether to elect members of the State Legislature who will be accountable to Washington’s working families.
Two years ago, only 34.9 percent of registered voters in Washington state — barely more than one in three — bothered to return their primary election ballots. That’s not just bad for democracy, that’s bad for working families. Low turnout gives the most extreme candidates, including those bankrolled by corporate interests and right-wing billionaires, a better chance to advance in the election.
The good news: for the first time this year, all election ballots’ return envelopes are postage paid. You don’t need to find a stamp to vote. Just fill it out and drop it in any mailbox or ballot drop box and you’re done.
So check out the list of labor-endorsed candidates, fill out and sign that ballot, and drop it in a mailbox!