Seattle & King County Ballot Measures: 2022 Election Night Results

RENTON, WA — The polls have closed and King County voters are getting an early look at how local ballot measures performed across the region. This year's midterms had no statewide initiatives, but voters had a handful of county and city measures to consider.

King County Charter Amendment No. 1 seeks to move elections for 12 county-level offices to even-numbered years. It's part of an effort to increase voter turnout by aligning contests for the executive's office, council and other local offices with midterms and presidential elections, which consistently draw more participation.

Proposition No. 1, the Conservation Futures Levy, looks to restore full funding levels for the Land Conservation Initiative, designed to protect 65,000 acres across the region, including forest land, salmon habitats and other green spaces. If approved by voters, the new rate would be 6.25 cents per $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

Both propositions had overwhelming support in the first ballot drop Tuesday.

Catch up on other races around Western Washington:

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• King County Prosecutor's Race: 2022 Election Night Results

In Seattle, voters had to consider whether to move to alternative voting methods to elect the mayor, city attorney and city council members. The first part of the ballot measure asked voters to choose whether either of the choices should be implemented, with the second section asking which method they would prefer.

Provided the first question garners enough support, a majority for Proposition 1A would implement approval voting, which allows voters to select as many candidates as they want for each race. Selecting Proposition 1B would move forward with ranked-choice voting, where voters can rank their choices in order. Roughly four dozen cities and two states currently use similar methods.

On election night, the "no" votes had a narrow lead on whether to change the voting system at all, but nearly three-quarters of voters favored implementing ranked-choice voting if the measure passed.

Other ballot measures and local levies were on the ballot in Bellevue, Clyde Hill, Mercer Island, Redmond, Renton, Shoreline and Tukwila.

Here's where a few ballot measures stood on election night:

King County Charter Amendment No. 1 (Even-year elections)

• Yes: 69.17%
• No: 30.83%

King County Proposition No. 1 (Conservation Futures Levy)

• Yes: 67.60%
• No: 32.40%

Seattle Props. 1A & 1B (Approval vs. Ranked-choice voting)

• Part 1
  • Yes: 49.05%
  • No: 50.95%
• Part 2:
• Proposition 1A: 25.99%
• Proposition 1B: 74.01%

Tuesday's first returns do not reflect last-minute ballots, and the tallies will change daily as more votes are counted. In Washington, ballots returned in the last two days of the voting period can make up more than half of the total, and percentages can change greatly in the first few days.

King County Elections will release updated ballot totals each day by 4 p.m. until the election is certified.