Hey you who are reading this: Who are you, and do you vote?

I haven’t voted yet.  And the fact is, my one vote will make no difference to the outcome of the election.  But damn the torpedoes, vote I shall, which will put me in the minority—we’re told to expect something like 35 percent turnout for the August 18 primary election.

Though Google knows everything about all of us, their analytics package won’t give me a demographic profile of hugeasscity readers.  I suspect that on the whole, y’all are more likely to vote than the average Seattleite.  On the other hand, I also suspect that y’all are on the younger end of the age spectrum, what with the potty-mouthed blog name and all.  And supposedly you younguns don’t vote.

To help get a better picture of the ~500 unique visitors who hit this blog every day, a humble request:  Would you be willing to leave a comment with a few key bits of info about yourself (anonymously or not), such as age, gender, race, household size, education level, where you live, what type of housing you live in, commute travel mode, and whether or not you will vote?  C’mon, it will only take a minute.  And if enough people do, methinks it will be quite revealing.

Based on a highly scientific sample of one—me—I’ll jump to the conclusion that many others have not yet voted, and make a few last plugs on this perfect late summer Seattle Sunday evening.   No time for  essays—in short, these are the candidates I believe are most aligned with the hugeasscity worldview.

Mayor = Mike McGinn. Hopefully you’ll vote for him because of his qualifications and beliefs, as I am.   If not, hopefully you’ll consider voting for him because a McGinn/Nichokels runoff would make for the most progressive debate in the general election, or because you’re a fiscal conservative and oppose the deep-bore tunnel, or heck, even because you think he’ll be easier than Mallahan for Nichokels to defeat.  So many reasons.  Do it.

City Council Position No. 4 = Dorsol Plants. My most difficult choice.  But this bit from the Stranger’s endorsement hit me right where I live:

He has dozens of smart ideas, including rewriting neighborhood plans to accommodate more density, especially around light-rail stations…

City Council Position No. 6 = Jesse Israel. Alan Durning’s endorsement captures it for me:

Normally, I’d be voting for [Licata].  But this year, I’ve endorsed Jessie Israel, whose views more closely match my own on transportation and urbanism. Jessie would be an even stronger force for my values on the city council than Nick.  And even if Nick wins the race, I expect a strong challenge from someone who embraces compact growth might pull him in that direction.

City Council Position No. 8 = Mike O’Brien. Summed up well by the endorsements from both Publicola and The Stranger:

O’Brien supports removing parking requirements from housing developments, allowing developers to build small apartments and condos to reduce housing costs…  He believes Seattle must build much more housing within city limits to combat suburban sprawl—to reduce the region’s carbon footprint and bring down housing prices…

King County Executive = Dow Constantine. A great candidate and also our best hope for not getting stuck with closet Republican Ms. KIRO.