King County Young Democrats Membership / Potential Members Endorsement Frequently Asked Questions
The King County Young Democrats typically host our endorsement meetings in late May. You can find more event details on our Facebook Page.
Only members of King County Young Democrats can nominate and vote on a candidate for endorsement. Everyone who is not a member will need to leave and the members-only portion of the endorsements meeting will then take place.
In order to become a member, one must be under the age of 36, reside in King County and pay the membership dues of $20. If you would like to become a member you can pay your dues online here.
Yes. You can become a member at the endorsements meeting, but it must be before the members-only portion of the event starts. However, you can still become a member afterwards.
The Chair will ask for nominations for a particular race according to the agenda. You can raise your hand and when acknowledged by the Chair, say “I would like to nominate Candidate X for Position X for endorsement”. Then someone else who is a member will need to say “Second!”. At that point the candidate will be considered for our organization’s endorsement.
After Candidate X has been nominated, the Chair will ask for any other nominations, at which point another member can nominate a different candidate for the same race. They raise their hand and when acknowledged by the chair says, “I would like to nominate Candidate Y for Position X for endorsement.” Then another member must second that also. This continues until there are no more nominations.
At this point Candidate X and Candidate Y are considered individually. Since Candidate X was nominated first, there can be up to two speeches for and two speeches against, with 30 seconds allotted for each. After those speeches, we will then hold the vote. If Candidate X receives two-thirds of the votes then they are endorsed. We will then move on to Candidate Y, where the same process of speeches for and against plays out, and then we vote on Candidate Y. If Candidate Y receives two-thirds of the vote then they are also endorsed. We must consider each candidate individually first, and it is possible for multiple candidates to win an endorsement from us in one individual race.
Multiple candidates can receive two-thirds of the vote to endorse, because you can vote for multiple candidates in the same race. In a race where there are three people you really like for mayor or a city council position, you can vote for each one of those people when they are up for nomination.
If no candidate in a race wins an endorsement with two-thirds of the vote individually, then a motion for a dual endorsement is in order. In a case where there are three or more people nominated, a dual endorsement will start with the two candidates who received the most votes when considered individually. If that dual endorsement fails, it then opens up any permutation of candidates who were nominated until two people are endorsed, or until we just give up on that race.
We can endorse in any race that is partially or fully in King County and anything that is fully in Washington State. This includes initiatives, referendums, levies, and anything else that appears on a ballot in King County.
King County Elections keeps track of who has filed at this website. You can click on a name and it should have a link to their campaign website if they have one.