By Jerry Cornfield | Reporter
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Quote of the week: You’ve spent the year making your voice heard. Now make sure your vote is counted.
This plea is not from an organizer of one of the No Kings rallies taking place across the nation today, including at our state Capitol. This appeal is from leaders of Future 42, a conservative political organization, to its supporters, whose positions are poles apart from those attending the rallies.
With ballots sent to Washington’s 5.1 million registered voters, all the competing forces in the Nov. 3 election are engaged in the effort to get them returned.
Voting early is not just a theme of those various forces. It’s been a mantra of local and state election officials in Washington, even more so since around 20,000 ballots cast in the August primary were rejected because they came in too late.
Officials are cautioning voters to not rely on the U.S. Postal Service. As a result of recent changes and reduced frequency of pick-ups, the postal service does not guarantee ballots sent through the mail will be postmarked on the day they are put in the mail box. Those determined to use the mail should consider getting their ballot return envelope postmarked in person, officials say.
They really hope voters will choose to deposit them in one of the state’s 600 designated drop boxes.
They are so far in Snohomish County, where ballots went out to its 550,000 voters on Oct. 9. As of Friday afternoon, 26,400 ballots had been returned, nearly 69% via a drop box.
Washington state election officials encourage voters to return ballots via designated drop boxes to ensure they arrive in time to be counted. In the primary, the state tallied a higher number of ballots with late postmarks than prior years. (Photo by Donna Gordon Blankinship)
Drop boxes are going to receive quite a few shout-outs at those rallies today. In Tacoma, some will be in the spotlight at events where folks will be waving signs with an arrow pointing out where ballots are inserted. They may be pretty close.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs warns not to get too close. State law prohibits certain political activities near them.
“Any organized activity needs to respect the law that states no campaigning within 25 feet of a ballot box,” he said in an email. “Every eligible Washingtonian should feel free to exercise their right to vote without interference or intimidation.”
If you haven’t voted, we published our voter guide this week. You will find responses to our surveys from all candidates for the Supreme Court as well as for 34 of the most competitive legislative contests and two races for U.S. House seats. Those legislative hopefuls had interesting thoughts on whether the state is on the right track or wrong track.
There’s also explainers of the three statewide initiatives dealing with Washington’s new income tax on high earners, parental rights of public school students and transgender students’ participation in school sports.
News tips, feedback, questions? Email us: [email protected]
(Photo by Stephen Ausmus/U.S. Department of Agriculture)
By Aspen Ford
The emerald ash borer, one of the most destructive invasive pests in the nation, has been detected in multiple trees outside of Walla Walla in eastern Washington.
Late last month, an arborist arrived found signs of a beetle infestation on an ash tree already in decline in College Place, a community southwest of Walla Walla, and reported it to state officials. Samples were sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to the Washington state Department of Agriculture. On Wednesday, the federal agency made the confirmation.
While it’s the second statewide detection of the beetle, it’s the first time state officials found it infesting trees. In August, officials confirmed identification of an emerald ash borer on a car windshield in Vancouver.
By Jordan Hansen
Puget Sound Energy has broken ground on a 130-megawatt solar array near Rapelje in southcentral Montana.
Called the “Battle Butte Solar Project,” it’s expected to provide enough energy for 20,000 homes as the company looks to comply with Washington state law, which requires the company to reduce its reliance on power generated from fossil fuels in favor of renewables. Puget Sound Energy provides electricity and energy services for a broad swath of northwestern Washington.
PSE says it eliminated coal from its energy portfolio at the end of 2025 and added 22 long-term clean energy resources totaling more than 4,000 MW since 2019, when Washington passed the Clean Energy Transformation Act.
Where’s the governor?
Last Sunday, before the Seahawks lost to the 49ers, Gov. Bob Ferguson met with the team’s new owners, Vinod and Neeru Khosla, at the stadium. The meeting was at 11:45 a.m., according to public records we obtained. When it ended Ferguson joined his political team until 5:30 p.m., which seems long enough to watch the game. Maybe from a suite?
A couple days later we found the govenor trash talking on Facebook. Ferguson felt Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat left out a key detail when he wrote of the potential for Democratic lawmakers to reduce the threshold for the new income tax below $1 million.
“I will immediately VETO any effort to lower the threshold,” Ferguson wrote on his campaign account. “I plan on being Governor for quite a while (sorry haters!) so this isn’t happening.”
Late Friday, we were pleasantly surprised when a “Calendar Update for Governor Bob Ferguson” arrived in our inboxes. It was the first in two months. It is for next week and here’s a couple things that caught our eye.
Monday is designated as “Olympia workday.” Tuesday is “Olympia/Seattle workday” with two legislative meetings scheduled. Participants are not named.
Wednesday has a “hold” at 9:30 a.m. for a press conference in Seattle. Also that day he plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with a leader of Denmark (we think it’s their ambassador to the United States) and attend the Space Superiority Summit.
On Friday afternoon, Ferguson, a sports buff, is slated to be on hand as Washington State University honors Cougar baseball legend John Olerud with a bronze statue. Olerud, after a stellar college career, played 17 years in the major leagues and won a couple World Series rings.
IN OTHER NEWS THIS WEEK…
When Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun faced off for their final debate, a new ad incited a heated ending.
The leader of Washington state public schools says the state should not join a federal tax credit program that would fund K-12 education.
After a sickout crippled Washington’s ferry system, Gov. Bob Ferguson agreed to take another look at those workers’ salaries.
Attorney General Nick Brown won’t pursue a youth online safety law after settling a lawsuit with a social media giant.
Reports of large whales getting tangled in buoys, gillnets and other fishing equipment are increasing, including in the waters off Washington’s coast.
Commentary: An effort is underway in Washington to pass Climate “Superfund” legislation in 2027 to require fossil fuel companies to pay for damages from their greenhouse gas emissions.
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