By Miki Mullor
Editor
STCA, the Town Center developer owned by Matt Samwick, has contributed $70,882.80 
to former Mayor Don Gerend’s Livable Sammamish PAC.
Gerend and Kathy Huckabay, also a former mayor of Sammamish, were the only citizen contributors to Livable Sammamish. Gerend was the public face of the political action committee.
Continue readingSammamish voters approved I-976, the $30 car tab fee, by a margin of 54%-46% in election night precinct tabluations.
King County Elections released the Nov. 5 election night precinct-by-precinct votes on Nov. 8. The Election Night percentages typically vary from the final tally by no more than 1%-2%. Between Tuesday and Friday, percentages in the city council races varied by fractions of a percent.
Sound Transit’s funding scheme, relying heavily on car tab fees, was the prime target of Tim Eyman’s initiative. Sound Transit car tab fees use an inflated, outdated car valuation schedule that results in hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars more in fees than using a Kelly Blue Book value.
The Sammamish voters in the 5th Legislative District—the greater Klahanie area—approved the $30 tab fee by the narrow margin of 50.5% to 49.5%. The 5th is closest to the Issaquah Highlands Park & Ride, where Sound Transit provides frequent service.
The Sammamish voters in the 41st Legislative District—basically the southern half of the city south of SE 8th St.—approved I-976 by a 55.8%-44.2% vote.
The Sammamish voters in the 45th Legislative District—north of SE 8th—approved I-975 53%-47%.
Final results may alter these percentages slightly.
On the third day of ballot returns by King County Elections, the vote leads of Sammamish City Council candidates Christie Malchow, Kent Treen and Ken Gamblin continue to widen over challengers Karen McKnight, Karen Howe and Rituja Indapure.
Through Thursday, 19,520 ballots were returned by Sammamish voters. This represents, so far, a 52.2% turnout, the heaviest in city history for an off-year, city council election. Turnout normally is between 35%-45%.
Election results from Day 2 of the Sammamish City Council race saw the winners from election night widen their leads in vote totals, even if the percentages were shaved fractionally.
Incumbent Christie Malchow ended election night with a 2,985 vote lead over challenger Karen McKnight. Today, this vote lead increased to 3,259. The percentage narrowed slightly from 66.35% to 65.83%.
By Scott Hamilton
Guest Contributor
Sammamish Comment will provide continuing election coverage over the rest of this month.
King County will post result updates daily around 4:15pm. A direct link should be here. The general landing page is here; then click the View Results icon.
With the lopsided, landslide results posted last night, The Comment won’t be posting return updates as in previous elections. We will update the numbers today and then once a week thereafter.
Christie Malchow won reelection by a 2-1 margin over Karen McKnight. Ken Gamblin defeated Rituja Indapure, also by a 2-1 margin. Kent Treen defeated Karen Howe by a 60%-40% margin.
Sammamish Comment 