Wednesday politics: counties with highest voter turnout, Pierce Co. voting, Nate Silver in Doonesbury

Happy Day Before Turkey Day.

One for the number nerds: Amid all the pre-election surmising about which Washington counties might have the highest — highest! — turnout, one expert in the Secretary of State’s office quipped that with marijuana legalization on the ballot, a good bet is that voters in Jefferson and San Juan counties’ woulds turn out in big numbers. No such wager occurred. But spokesman David Ammons had it right. Now that much of the ballot counting is over — OK, we take forever — the two counties with the biggest turnout percentage were, drum roll, San Juan County, with 88.53 percent, and Jefferson County, with 88.09 percent. The much-vaunted King County turnout, so far anyway, is less than anticipated, 81.95 percent.

Pierce County voting
in 2012 governor’s race
Source: The News Tribune

Pierce County voting habits: Political observers in recent years have been noticing that Pierce County voting has been trending a bit more conservative. The county was once bluer, as in, more Democratic, and more dominated by voters living in Tacoma. But the county is changing and growing. The News Tribune of Tacoma posted a cool graphic showing the voting in the 2012 governor’s race and allowed us to post it in the blog.

Nate Silver makes Doonesbury comic status: New York Times numbers whiz Nate Silver, who predicted the 2012 election with amazing accuracy, has achieved a milestone. He was mentioned in a Doonesbury comic. He’s a young man but it’s one of those things you hope to do before you check out, or so Silver tweeted this week.

Republican misgivings: In the weeks leading up to the election, former Washington State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance was convinced Republicans were going to do better in Washington state in the 2012 election. Then they didn’t. Here is his post-election analysis for Crosscut.com, in which he says Democrats voted and a lot of Republicans stayed home.

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Comments | More in General Election, Governor, homepage, Marijuana initiative, Politics Northwest | Topics: chris vance, crosscut, governor's race

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Politics Northwest is the go-to blog for politics in our region. The blog explores national, state and local political news and issues. Reporters from Washington, D.C., to Seattle City Hall to the state capital in Olympia contribute. Editors are Richard Wagoner and Beth Kaiman.

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