There are two Spokane City Council races for which there is no August primary election. That’s because there are only two candidates in Districts 1 and 2. All four candidates will advance to the November ballot. So, though you won’t be voting for them next month, you’ll be hearing a lot from them in the fall.
Today, we meet the candidates in District 1, which is primarily northeast Spokane. The incumbent, Jonathan Bingle, is running for a second term.
"On the issues [such as] public safety or housing or things like that, I've partnered with former Councilwoman Stratton on a Parks After Dark ordinance that helped us reduce shootings in our parks after dark. Councilmembers Zappone and I have partnered on a number of development issues to make development in Spokane a little bit easier. I've worked with Councilwoman Navarrete on some ARPA spending and how do we get the money out there. There's a number of issues that you can find where you have common ground with others."
His opponent is community organizer Sarah Dixit.
"A lot of people like to say that, if you're not born and raised here, you're not a real Spokanite. But I think for me, it's the choice of the matter of being able to choose where I live and choose where to build my roots and that's been here in District 1. And I think a big reason why folks have asked me to run is knowing that I'm someone who listens and loves to be a part of the community."
Owen Henderson will talk with us about the money that the Spokane city council candidates are raising this summer and who’s donating it. And we’ll talk with Ryan Dosch from the Spokane County elections office about how they train the partisan observers who come in to watch how the ballots are counted.
"We teach them about the entire process from start to finish, from voter registration to mailing out the ballots to processing and signature verification, opening, tabulation, letting them know the whole process. So before they come in to observe, they know what to look for. They can see things that are out of the ordinary that don't follow our training that they can bring to our attention or ask questions that way."
