It's time to post the current election turnout breakdown by age bracket chart again and remind you that ballots are due by Tuesday!

😕🤷🏼

WOW. New announcement from Seattle CMs Strauss, Hollingsworth, and Foster saying they will fund universal school meals starting in the fall after all by using the general fund. Hard to see this as anything but a realization of the high political price they paid for their votes yesterday.

Nilu Jenks gets it. If you are in D5, I hope you will join me in voting for her to represent us on the city council.

Beth Day@thebethocracy.bsky.social · 2w ago

Here's the data again, for schools that are just under or over the 40% threshold for free school meals. As I said before, this is recalculated EVERY YEAR, so schools can qualify one year and not the next based on very small population changes.

What a no vote on Seattle's Prop 1 is a vote for, according to the Seattle Public Library Foundation. Imagine advocating for public libraries to be defunded at a time like this. Couldn't be me.

Thank you to everyone who is using our @electioncheatsheet.org Civic Tech that empowers people to be curious and informed voters is critical. This tool helps people feel more confident when they vote, or to narrow in on the candidates they might need to learn more about. Please share widely!

The Urbanist Elections Committee has issued its 2026 primary election endorsements. Be sure to vote by August 4! Endorsements: www.theurbanist.org/2026-primary...

2026 Primary Election Endorsements

The Urbanist Elections Committee is excited to announce our 2026 primary election endorsements. Check out our great slate of leaders. Be sure to vote by August 4.

theurbanist.org

⚠️ The RNC filed its eighth lawsuit seeking to block certain U.S. citizens living abroad from voting. The GOP’s anti-overseas voter campaign is now a state-by-state legal strategy aimed at suppressing voting access for Americans abroad.

RNC sues New Jersey in eighth lawsuit targeting overseas voters

It is the eighth overseas voter lawsuit the RNC has filed in recent months, following similar cases in Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia, Nebraska, Colorado and Nevada.

democracydocket.com

Illinois expanded vote-by-mail because we believe voting should be easier, not harder. Now, Trump’s handpicked Postmaster General is threatening to withhold mail ballots unless states turn over voter rolls. That's not election security. It’s voter suppression.

Millions of voters of color will no longer be able to elect a representative of their choice. But what’s at stake is far bigger: whether voters of color can elect legislators whose votes actually reflect their policy preferences. prospect.org?p=139239

There's a major civil rights protest taking place in Selma, Alabama, right now in response to the SCOTUS decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the ongoing attack on Black Americans’ political power (video: defiancedispatch/IG)

Grateful and excited about this endorsement. It means a lot to me to have such a thoughtful leader support this campaign!

AMR - Alexis Mercedes Rinck@alexis4seattle.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I’m endorsing Nilu Jenks @niluj.bsky.social, fellow @workingfamilies.org candidate because she’s committed to fighting for a future for all of us! Deeply rooted in D5, Nilu has been a champion for democracy and immigrant communities. She’s the colleague I want on council and deserves your support!

This week @mhgreen3000.bsky.social and I sat down with Nilu Jenks, Iranian-American democracy advocate, for a deeply personal conversation about war, diaspora grief, authoritarianism, and the deadly lie of "liberation" through violence. It’s a must-listen. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

Ep 43: ​​Two Nations, One Grief with Nilu Jenks

Podcast Episode · In the Meanwhile · March 20 · 1h

podcasts.apple.com

I have been sitting with a grief that feels larger than I can name, so I turn to the poetry of my Persian/Iranian ancestors for comfort and guidance.

In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists & will persist.”

The Military-Industrial Complex Speech (1961)

National Constitution Center Historic Documents Library record for The Military-Industrial Complex Speech (1961)

constitutioncenter.org

I was recently interviewed for this piece about Louisiana v Callais, a US Supreme Court case that could shape the future of voting rights here in Washington and across the nation.

WA voting rights advocates: SCOTUS ruling could harm voters of color

Washington voting rights advocates say a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling could disenfranchise voters of color and open the door to gutting the federal Voting Rights...

bignewsnetwork.com

it took me some years to learn this lesson but I finally understand it

I want to thank @theurbanist.org for writing the first piece on my campaign. It starts to lay the framework for how blue cities like Seattle can lead with our values and be pragmatic about getting results.

The Urbanist@theurbanist.org · 7mo ago

NEW STORY // Climate Advocate Nilu Jenks Announces D5 Seattle Council Campaign By Amy Sundberg, via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/15/c...

WA continues to provide driver data to federal officials for immigration enforcement, despite saying they shut down access

Report: Federal immigration agents continued using Washington driver data through state-run system

A new University of Washington study links license plate lookups through a Washington State Patrol “switchboard” to immigration arrests.

king5.com

How in the triple-my-premiums healthcare did this get printed?

At the Ursula K LeGuin exhibit today: a poem, "Not making war." Seems relevant.

ICE is terrorizing communities. We must show up for our neighbors - citizen or not. Masked agents assaulting and kidnapping people like this is not justifiable in any context.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 8mo ago

MINNEAPOLIS: “All I did was step outside as a Somali American citizen, and I got chased by a masked person, assaulted, kidnapped. It was inhumane. If this is what’s happening to a 🇺🇸 citizen on camera, imagine what could happen to your loved ones.”

I'm not exaggerating when I say following @boltsmag.org rn will unlock money for our journalism. A generous reader, @russ41.bsky.social, has offered to donate $1 for every 1-person increase to our follower count. If you're not following @boltsmag.org yet, it'll directly help fund our reporting!

Today’s victory means that Washingtonians will continue to benefit from the work of these agencies. It also reaffirms that the President can’t reverse the will of the people and their elected representatives with the stroke of a pen. www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-re...

Maybe dumping poop on voters from an airplane is not a surefire electoral strategy

OUTSTANDING interview with @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social on @volts.wtf This is the ONE interview you got to listen to before voting in the Seattle Mayoral election. The fact that Katie is attracting attention from such national leading lights is telling - she is special!

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 10mo ago

Today on Volts: In a big blue city, a progressive up-and-comer is challenging an establishment Democrat to be mayor, having already scored a surprise win in the primary. Naturally I'm talking about Seattle's Katie Wilson! We talk housing, transit, public order, the threat of Trump, & much more.

The mass layoffs of federal workers on Friday night swept up the top two leaders of the federal measles response team, even as the nation grapples with the most cases recorded since 2000, when measles was declared eliminated in the U.S.

C.D.C. Layoffs Included 2 Top Measles Experts Amid Rising Cases

Scientists who focused on other infectious diseases, like an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, also were let go.

nyti.ms

Trump’s deployment of troops to Portland is a dangerous escalation of authoritarianism. Now is the time to find our own ways of standing up and fighting back to preserve our democracy. Fellow vets: we need you to muster. And those serving: you can refuse an unlawful order as you may receive it.

This is the playbook, folks. If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away. Do not be quiet in this moment.

Yup.