Sawant Recall Headed For December Ballots In Seattle's District 3

SEATTLE — King County Elections certified the recall petition against Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant Thursday, but it will not make the ballot in time for the November general election. Instead, the nearly 75,000 voters registered in Seattle's third council district will receive separate ballots more than two weeks later, which will be due back by Dec. 7.

According to elections officials, the campaign to recall Sawant submitted more than 16,000 signatures for verification in early September of the 10,687 needed to place the petition on the ballot.

"KCE follows a comprehensive verification process that includes researching each petition signer to ensure they are registered to vote in the district and that the signature on the petition matches the signature on the voter's registration file," officials wrote Thursday. "Over 11,000 signatures were accepted through the verification process."

State law requires recall elections take place within 45 to 90 days of a petition's certification, and King County Elections said that timeline kept it from making the ballot in either of the two upcoming elections.

"A number of factors influenced our decision to set the recall election on December 7," said Julie Wise, director of King County Elections. "With both the November General and February Special elections being outside the realm of possibility, we looked at dates that would reduce overlap between elections for our voters and sought to avoid the busy December holiday season as much as possible. There's no perfect date to schedule an election but our hope is that voters will show up, turn out, and use their voice in this election just like any other."

The Recall Sawant petition accuses Sawant of misusing city resources to promote the "Tax Amazon" initiative and misusing her position to allow protesters inside City Hall during June 2020 protests and lead a march to Mayor Jenny Durkan's house in July 2020.

As The Seattle Times notes, Sawant supporters argue that the recall effort is backed by conservatives and accuse the campaign of intentionally holding onto its signatures long enough to miss deadlines for the November ballot, hoping for lower turnout during a separate election — something the campaign denies.

According to King County Elections, District 3 voters will see only the recall on the December ballots, listing the charges against Sawant and her responses to them, with an option to vote yes or no on the recall. Elections officials told the newspaper the single-issue election will cost the city of Seattle between $250,000 and $300,000.

Should the recall effort succeed, Washington state law requires vacancies are filled by appointment until the seat is up for its next election.