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Joyce McDonald issued a statement today declaring victory in her bid for the County Council seat being vacated by Calvin Goings. McDonald notes that she has 48.5 percent of the first-choice votes and has enjoyed a solid lead over Democrats Al Rose and Carolyn Merrival in both releases of ranked-choice voting results.
That said, she is decidedly not a fan of the new voting system. She says her council agenda will include a move to drop the RCV system.
Here's an excerpt from a note she sent today to Republican activists:
As you know, the executive’s race is still too close to call, but looking at the “first choice” votes, there’s no doubt that Shawn Bunney could have won if this had been a “top two” election rather than a ranked choice. I look forward to working with my fellow council members to change the fiasco of Pierce County’s “Ranked Choice Voting” to a top two system. That way all races will appear on a “single” ballot, removing the wasted time, energy and money used for two ballots and a flawed counting system.
That's not McDonald's only complaint. She didn't mention Auditor Pat McCarthy by name, but McDonald also blasted the county's operation of poll sites on Election Day.
Probably the greatest travesty was the many disenfranchised voters who did not get to cast their votes because they could not stand in line for two or three hours. Many had to work! This happened to my son in law, who after waiting in line for more than an hour, had to leave to pick up his daughter at school. He then came back, stood in line a second time and still had not voted by the time he had to leave for work. He took a bold step and went to the front of the line and demanded his ballot – much to the anger of many others who were still waiting in line. He was so rushed and frustrated at this point that he only took the time to vote in the presidential and congressional race on the one ballot and then voted in my race only on the ranked choice ballot. This frustration caused by the unnecessary closing of polling places and the overall lack of planning and foresight cannot be tolerated. Our votes are too important.
