King County needs your input on how to spend money in White Center and North Highline! Voting Closes Oct 31 – online and in person options available.
by Stuart Jenner.
King County is asking for votes in five regions of unincorporated King County on programs/services and capital spending. Several million dollars will be allocated based on the votes. White Center/North Highline is one of the regions.
Publicity about this opportunity has been directed only to residents, and we just learned of this the other day from a group asking for support for one of the opportunities. The group correctly notes that non-residents can vote, and notified their members who use one of the facilities.
The overall county program is explained on this site. Some key points:
- Voting can be done online or in person. There have been several in person opportunities, the last one is October 31, from 6 PM – 8 PM at the White Center Halloween Event, located on 16th between Roxbury and 100th.
- White Center capital projects ballot and information here describe the options, including pools, cultural centers, playgrounds and street lighting facilities.
- White Center programs and services, with details here, include youth support, college scholarships, music and drama, and sports programs.
Voting Options
The online voting process steps include entering a phone number in order to get a code, entering your name and, if you want updates, an email address, then voting. The voting is ranked choice. The page states: “In a ranked-choice vote, each voter ranks projects in order of preference. A project receives points based on the rank the voter assigns it. Winning projects are selected in order of the points they have accumulated, until the funding limit is reached. “
Since the rank is based on order of selection, after you’ve selected your choices, you can move an item up or down in the list before submitting your vote. Once you submit your vote, it is final, you can’t go back and change your vote.
This is an innovative approach. A shout out to Stanford University for their search and work in setting up a new way for residents to provide input, as explained here.
