Ballots for the Kshama Sawant recall election begin mailing this week. Here's what voters should know

Voters in Seattle's District 3 — which includes Capitol Hill, the Central District and surrounding neighborhoods — will soon receive their ballots in the mail for the Dec. 7 special election which will decide whether Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant will keep her seat on the council or be recalled.

Keep reading for what voters need to know about the upcoming vote. 

Why is there a recall?

The recall complaint against the council's only socialist member began last fall when resident Ernest Lou filed a formal petition with the county alleging that Sawant had "used her position in violation of the law or has recklessly undermined the safety of others."

The charges included giving Black Lives Matter protesters access to City Hall, leading a march to Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan's private residence, delegating hiring/firing decisions to the Socialist Alternative and using city funds to promote a Tax Amazon ballot initiative. In September, a King County Superior County judge allowed the four charges alleged in the petition to move forward.

Sawant filed an appeal to dismiss the charges which went before the Washington State Supreme Court in January. A decision on the appeal was not made until April 2021 when the court ruled that the charges of opening City Hall to protesters, leading a protest to Durkan's home and using public funds to promote a ballot initiative were factually and legally sufficient and could proceed in the recall.

Why is the vote now?

Petitioners spent the rest of the spring and summer collecting over 10,700 signatures to get the recall onto the ballot for voters in Sawant's District 3 to decide. However, the organizers did not submit the signatures in time to make the Nov. 2 ballot, a move that those in the solidarity group defending Sawant say was intentionally meant to force the issue to a winter special election

"This is a classic right wing voter suppression tactic," Sawant said during a virtual debate Wednesday. "Having an election between Thanksgiving and Christmas, they are hoping ... for a broad disenfranchisement of young people, workers and renters."

Henry Bridger II, manager of the Recall Sawant campaign, denied that the recall effort purposefully delayed submitting the signatures to the county and instead blamed the solidarity group's effort to also gather signatures, some which Bridger said were unverifiable, for not making the county's deadline.

"We wanted to go to the November election and we were trying to get there," Bridger said during the debate. "When [Sawant] got her people to turn in 3,200 more signatures, that put our small staff under great pressure that they could not meet the deadline of August 3."

Who gets to vote?

Nearly 75,000 registered voters in District 3 are eligible to vote in the election. Ballots will be mailed Nov. 17 and county drop boxes will officially open on Nov. 18. Voters have until Nov. 29 to register for the election.

Ballots must be postmarked or turned into ballot drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Dec. 7 to be counted. Voters can also register and vote in person at a county vote center, which will open on Nov. 17.

Who is funding the campaigns?

In the interim months since the recall was argued in court, both sides have continued to raise significant amounts of money. According to data from the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, the recall effort has raised $684,191 as of Thursday while the solidarity effort has raised $798,422.

Filings show that a total of 4,838 individuals have donated to the recall effort, averaging $141.40 per donor. Some of the largest donors represent real estate, construction and property management interests in the city with many donors also supporting the Compassion Seattle initiative that was struck down by a King County Superior Court judge in September.

On the other side, the solidarity group has a total of 8,841 individual donors averaging contributions of $89.67. Filings show that many of the donations were from outside of Seattle as Sawant's political group, Socialist Alternative, has also been coming to her defense.

What happens if Sawant is recalled?

If a majority of voters in District 3 vote yes to the recall, the Seattle City Council will then select a replacement who will serve until the city's next general election.