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Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

The Latest Results

News   November 4, 2009 at 4:32 pm Erica C. Barnett

In the Seattle, King County, and statewide races:

Seattle Mayor

Mike McGinn: 52,238 49.77 percent

Joe Mallahan: 51,776 49.33 percent

Gap: 462 votes

City Attorney

Pete Holmes57,251 62.17 percent

Tom Carr 34,661 37.64 percent

Gap: 22,590 votes

City Council Position 2

Richard Conlin 70,207 76.20 percent

David Ginsberg 21,688 23.54 percent

Gap: 48,519 votes

City Council Position 4

Sally Bagshaw 64,324 69.08 percent

David Bloom 28,587 30.7 percent

Gap: 35,737 votes

City Council Position 6

Nick Licata 54,740 56.92 percent

Jessie Israel 41,218 42.86 percent

Gap: 13,522 votes

City Council Position 8

Mike O’Brien 53,365 57.1 percent

Robert Rosencrantz 39,894 42.68 percent

Gap: 13,471 votes

Housing Levy

Yes 67,076 64.2 percent

No 37,400 35.8 percent

Gap: 29,676 votes

Seattle Port Commission (contested races)

Position 3

Rob Holland 139,020 54.99 percent

David Doud 113,128 44.75 percent

Gap: 25,892 votes

Position 4

Tom Albro 138,239 56.95 percent

Max Vekich 102,586 42.26 percent

Gap: 35,653 votes

King County Executive

Susan Hutchison 125,607 42.26 percent

Dow Constantine 171,006 57.53 percent

Gap: 45,399 votes

King County Assessor (top two)

Lloyd Hara 82,864 33.2 percent

Bob Rosenberger 72,525 29.06 percent

Gap: 10,339 votes

Initiative 1033

Yes 459,918 43.95 percent

No 586,626 56.05 percent

Gap: 96,708 votes

Referendum 71

Approved 559,665 51.83 percent

Rejected 520,115 48.17 percent

Gap: 39,549 votes




  • http://joshuadf.blogspot.com/ joshuadf

    946 write-ins could have changed the election!

    http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/200911/Respage23.aspx

  • http://joshuadf.blogspot.com joshuadf

    946 write-ins could have changed the election!

    http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/200911/Respage23.aspx

  • Purple

    And Mallahan won nearly 51% of today’s votes counted to McGinn’s 48.67%.

  • Purple

    And Mallahan won nearly 51% of today’s votes counted to McGinn’s 48.67%.

  • Rod S

    Ref 71 widens the lead, if only by a bit.

  • Rod S

    Ref 71 widens the lead, if only by a bit.

  • Gidge

    In the primary, McGinn led on Tuesday and Mallahan took the lead on both Wednesday and Thursday’s results.

  • Tri

    Would be helpful to also express the gap in each race as a percentage.

  • Tri

    Would be helpful to also express the gap in each race as a percentage.

  • Westie

    Erica: Is there any indication why so few votes got counted today? Yesterday the count was up to something like 23.4% of the registered voters, and today it only went up to 29.29%. That doesn’t sound normal to me. Was there a problem in the count, or was the total received today so low that there weren’t any more ballots to count?

  • Westie

    Erica: Is there any indication why so few votes got counted today? Yesterday the count was up to something like 23.4% of the registered voters, and today it only went up to 29.29%. That doesn’t sound normal to me. Was there a problem in the count, or was the total received today so low that there weren’t any more ballots to count?

  • Westie

    I just heard on King5 that 4,300 ballots have not been counted because signatures do not match those on record.

  • Westie

    I just heard on King5 that 4,300 ballots have not been counted because signatures do not match those on record.

  • dacoach

    hate to say it, but i said licata would get b/w 55-57%, not 60.

  • dacoach

    hate to say it, but i said licata would get b/w 55-57%, not 60.

  • http://gomezticator.livejournal.com/tag/2009+election Gomez

    6. Maybe they began counting well in advance of the 8:15 release, as in days before. Keep in mind they intended to count all ballots received up until late last week for that first drop. That’s a few weeks worth of ballots. It would figure that a subsequent 24 hour count would yield far less.

  • http://gomezticator.livejournal.com/tag/2009+election Gomez

    6. Maybe they began counting well in advance of the 8:15 release, as in days before. Keep in mind they intended to count all ballots received up until late last week for that first drop. That’s a few weeks worth of ballots. It would figure that a subsequent 24 hour count would yield far less.

  • Purple

    Gomez,
    King County is not able to start counting the ballots until election day. They are able to process ballots and get them ready to be counted, but they can’t count them until EDay.

  • Purple

    Gomez,
    King County is not able to start counting the ballots until election day. They are able to process ballots and get them ready to be counted, but they can’t count them until EDay.

  • http://gomezticator.livejournal.com/tag/2009+election Gomez

    Okay, confirmed. I was just taking a guess there.

  • http://gomezticator.livejournal.com/tag/2009+election Gomez

    Okay, confirmed. I was just taking a guess there.

  • Michael M.

    Re: how slow it is – because they’ve been processing, ballots that were already in were easy to count quickly. New ballots now have to go through the entire process, which would explain why it’s taking, and will take, awhile to count the votes.

  • Michael M.

    Re: how slow it is – because they’ve been processing, ballots that were already in were easy to count quickly. New ballots now have to go through the entire process, which would explain why it’s taking, and will take, awhile to count the votes.

  • Gidge

    In the primary, McGinn led on Tuesday and Mallahan took the lead on both Wednesday and Thursday's results.