Whatcom County at 70,712 Votes Counted

This is the fourth round of ballot counting. 70,712  ballots have been counted with 17,000 ballots noted as left to count. Kelli Linville has drawn within 545 votes of Vincent Buys.  The remaining 17,000 ballots (if no more arrive) should be representative of the increasingly  liberal turnout here, a pattern revealed in the general election of 2008, which broke a record for turnout in Whatcom County. Support for  Murray, Larsen, Morris, Lytton continues to strengthen in Whatcom County. In contradistinction, Tony Larson increased his large lead over Jean Melious. Go figure.

Why should the 'later' turnouts be more 'liberal' or 'progressive'? Actually, it is not a "late" turnout since the ballots are all collected or postmarked on time. And it may not explicitly be 'liberal' or 'progressive'. I believe this is a question of participation. There are a number of natural constituencies for the Democratic or a progressive party in Whatcom County that have only recently begun to be tapped. I imagine, based on current census data, that some of these groups would/could include names/numbers like these:

• Students 16,000 - 18,000 95% registered?
• Hispanic Origin 12,000 - 13,000 60% registered?
• Native Americans 5,000 - 6,000 60% registered?
• African Americans  2,000 60% registered?

These groups may represent as many as twenty-five thousand registered votes in Whatcom County and they will continue to increase in volume over time.  These groups may also represent some of the least resourced and/or most transient populations in Whatcom County, making it more difficult for them to consistently complete the fundamentals of citizenship.