Rich Erwin – Chair – King County Democrats
Every two years the King County Democrats in Washington state elect new officers as do other county and legislative districts and the Washington State Democrats. On Saturday December 6th, 2014 some 208 King County precinct committee officers were present and signed in out of the 820 elected in the August Primary. The meeting was in south Seattle at the Machinists Hall.
Three candidates were running to succeed the previous Chair who decided not to re-run. They were Rich Erwin – a former Chair of the 41st LD Democrats, Omaha Sternberg – Chair of the 33rd LD Democrats, and Betsy Walker – Chair of the King County Young Democrats. The meeting was full of surprises, including the power and lights going out during the election of the Chair and the extreme closeness of several votes. Rich Erwin after 3 votes was elected the new Chair.
In the initial vote for Chair the following results were obtained:
Rich Erwin 68
Omaha Sternberg 67
Betsy Walker 67
spoiled ballot 1
After much discussion of how to proceed a revote was taken with the following tally:
Rich Erwin 69
Omaha Sternberg 70
Betsy Walker 63
A third vote was then taken, dropping the lowest vote. The lights were still out. The new tally was:
Rich Erwin 105 – elected Chair
Omaha Sternberg 89
Almost immediately after Rich Erwin was declared the new Chair, the power and lights came back.
1st Vice Chair
Omaha Sternberg was nominated to be 1st Vice Chair and was elected by acclimation.
The 2nd Vice Chair election was as follows:
Joel Ware 108 – elected 2nd Vice-Chair
Roger Crew 54
The 3rd Vice Chair results:
Christina Lewis 116 – elected 3rd Vice-Chair
Julius Caesar Robinson 20
Linda Seltzer 23
The 4th vice-chair position drew 4 nominees.
Roger Crew 20
Sara Franklin 53
Julius Caesar Robinson 64
Linda Seltzer 7
Roger Crew withdrew and the vote was held on the top 2.
Sara Franklin 68
Julius Caesar Robinson 68
one spoiled ballot labeled Sara Robinson
A revote was taken:
Sara Franklin 62
Julius Caesar Robinson 65 – elected 4th Vice Chair
Other officers elected:
Javier Valdez was nominated and elected by acclimation as the male State Committeeman
Ann Martin was nominated and elected by acclimation as the female State Committeewoman
Dave Fish was nominated and elected by acclimation to be the Treasurer
Roger Crew was nominated and elected by acclimation to be the Secretary
news reports on elections:
