Seattle

In case anyone in Seattle wants something to do on Christmas Eve's Eve, my band is playing a show at one of the coolest dive bars in town: The Streamline. We're lucky to have Dead Bars playing with us - they're rad as fuck. In addition, Kelsey Hoffman is a very talented vocalist, and Johan are a pair of lovely women singing devilish songs.

By KIRO 7 News Staff and Jake Chapman, KIRO 7 News November 14, 2023 at 11:08 pm PST

SEATTLE — Eighty-five ballots from the mailbox on East John Court and 15th Avenue East in Seattle just reached the King County Elections Office on Tuesday after concerns were raised about that mailbox never being emptied.

A spokesperson with the King County Elections Office sent us this statement about the ordeal and what the next steps are in the counting process.

“King County Elections was alerted on Monday that there were concerns that a USPS mailbox on 15th & John was not being emptied during the voting period and that there were concerned voters who had dropped their ballots there. After learning of this, we immediately reached to USPS to look into what happened.

In their investigation, USPS reported back to us that the box had not been opened since mid-October. They retrieved the 85 ballots that were in the box and delivered them to our office on Tuesday, November 14.” – Halei Watkins, Communications Manager

Watkins told us that those ballots will be able to be counted despite the issue with the mailbox.

However, if a ballot doesn’t feature a postmark, they’ll look to other identifying barcodes from USPS. And if they don’t have that barcode, they can accept the date provided on the signature line.

“I think that the inefficiency of things can also make it hard for people to be able to get out and vote,” said Alejandro who lives in Capitol Hill.

As to how this all happened, a spokesperson with the United States Postal Services said they scheduled to remove and repair the mailbox due to a lock issue.

In a statement, they told us employees placed out-of-service signs on the mailbox multiple times, but the signage was removed, and unwitting customers continued to use the box.

“The U.S. Postal Service is committed to the timely and secure delivery of Election Mail.

We are aware of a collection box in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, scheduled for removal due to a lock issue. Our employees placed “out of service” signs on the box multiple times, but the signage was removed, and unwitting customers continued to use the box. We have now removed the collection box and its contents, including some Election Mail and ballots, and are delivering the mail. We are repairing the collection box and intend to reinstall it when repairs are complete. We regret any inconvenience to customers.” – Kim Frum, Strategic Communications Specialist

But some in Capitol Hill wonder if what the postal service said is true.

“At the very least, they could’ve directed people to one that is close by, or set up another temporary one, or there is a lot of options that you could do and not just say this is broken, sorry,” said Kenny who lives in Capitol Hill.

“It must’ve been out of service then or they knew it was out of service and they are now just trying to save face, maybe,” said Alejandro.

Whether this snag has impacted any tight races that are going on in King County is still a mystery. Stay with KIRO 7 for the latest election results.

GOLD BAR, Wash. — In Snohomish County, some residents told KIRO 7 they feel unsafe going to their local grocery store. Over the weekend, controversial photos of a cashier at Gold Bar Family Grocer appeared on social media. The photos show a man with a KKK shirt and a loaded holster checking out customers.

The shirt bears the words “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”

“The world’s a scary place right now. And Gold Bar should be a safe haven for those of us who live here,” said Gold Bar resident Lynne Kelly. “That’s crossing a line. That’s not okay.”

She believes the grocery store needs to take action. Meanwhile, fellow resident Jessica believes the man should be allowed to wear what he wants.

“Freedom of speech,” said Jessica. “Didn’t everyone fight for our freedoms for free speech so we could do what we want here? If the company’s not against it, the company’s not against it.”

We spoke with an expert on hate speech. Caitlin Carlson is a professor of communications at Seattle University and has published a book called ‘Hate Speech’.

“The KKK is a hate group,” said Carlson. “And so this messaging is very much hate speech, but it is allowed under the First Amendment.” But she adds that employers do have a right to intervene.

“If the employer wanted to tell the employee not to wear that, again, to wear a particular uniform, not to engage in potentially open carry, right, they would they would be well within their rights to do that,” said Carlson. “I would definitely be asking the employer, why it is there allowing this person to come to work and potentially offend or upset customers with this this attire?”

We spoke with the manager at Family Grocer who told us repeatedly “no comment.” They did add that they do not condone their employee’s actions.

Recently I’ve been going back and forth with maple leaf property management to try and rent a townhouse but ran into them making me sign an ‘intent to rent’ promissory note in order to see a full lease. They sent me a generic lease, they haven’t even updated the language to reflect the new late fee policy. In order to review the completed lease (payment schedule, tenant responsibilities for services, etc) I had to sign this binding contract. They disclosed most the information to me but the point is I want to review it in a single legal written document.

The promissory note puts you on the hook for 1 months rent, fees for them to release the property, fees for them to to post the property again, and any difference in rent should they find a tenant that rents it for less, should you fail to move into the property. To me this reads as a way for them to get around the 25% maximum holding fee policy as well as get you to sign away your rights as a tenant.

I’m posting this hopefully for other people to find as I could not for the life of me find anything relevant about this promissory note as it pertains to residential tenant landlord laws or city policy. If maple leaf management ask you to sign this document I highly recommend talking with the renters helpline, tenant union, or get some legal council before continuing.

Sorry about the rant. TLDR; do not sign legal documents without knowing what they are

I’m still mostly new to the area and curious how the locals feel about this voting season

Joy seems to have a lot of support for District 3 but I honestly don’t know anything about anyone to have a real horse in the race

Scroll down in the article a bit to see Seattle mentioned. Glad to see there's finally some support for this. Would love to ditch another card.