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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 7 |
| 1883 | 4 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 8 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 7 |
| 1889 | 10 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 15 |
| 1892 | 35 |
| 1893 | 15 |
| 1894 | 25 |
| 1895 | 18 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 10 |
| 1904 | 6 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1909 | 17 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1915 | 4 |
| 1916 | 7 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
248 stories matching poll
- The First Votes: When Seattle Women Went to the Polls in 1886
On a chilly, foggy November day, Seattle's women braved election-day crowds to cast their ballots, marking a pivotal, short-lived moment in Washington's struggle for suffrage.
- The 1895 Plan to Photograph Suspected Voters at the Polls
A Washington legislator proposed stationing photographers at polling places to snap 'doubtful voters' and preserve evidence against repeaters.
- The Chaos at the Polls
Voters across Tacoma are finding polling places locked, unmanned, or missing ballots entirely—a chronic failure in the city's election machinery.
- The Fight Over Local Road Taxes
A Marysville resident challenges a poll-tax law, sparking a legal test case that worries road commissioners.
- City Council Unrest and Charges Against Street Commissioner
Local government fractures as council members move to oust the street commissioner over accusations of graft and negligence.
- The Day Seattle Voted on the Bottle
In a town-defining referendum in 1886, Seattle voters decisively rejected a prohibition measure, choosing the saloon over the temperance movement.
- The Drunken Voter and the Drain: Seattle’s 1876 Election Reform Ideas
While the 1876 presidential election left the nation in suspense, the local Seattle press used the quiet polling day to propose strict new moral and administrative reforms for the growing town.
- The Health Officer's Election Brawl
A local health official survives a political 'trial' after being accused of interference at the polls.
- A Revolver at the Polls: Seattle’s Republican Primary Erupts
Seattle’s Republican primaries collapsed into shouting, challenged voters, fake tickets and a police chief drawing his revolver to declare the polls open.
- The Seneca Street Prankster
A pet parrot in Seattle develops a sophisticated and cruel sense of humor, terrorizing a local dog with fake emergency cries.
- The Unfair Tax on Being Alive
An 1878 Seattle citizen challenges the 'double and treble taxation' of poll taxes, arguing that labor should not be penalized while property owners receive preferential treatment.
- Japanese Laborers Defy Armed Extortion at Ashford
Contracted workers at the Tacoma Eastern rail site force a confrontation over predatory wage deductions and fees.
- The Election Day Plot at Black Diamond
Election officials warn of a sinister scheme to disrupt the vote at the coal mines, prompting calls for citizens to guard the ballot box.
- Seattle's First Municipal Election Under the New Registry Law
A record-breaking turnout draws thousands to the polls as two political factions clash in a pivotal city election.
- The Ghost of Belltown and the Battle for the Ballot
In 1880, as Seattle’s population swelled, the newspaper sparred with shipping reports over the identity of a neighborhood that 'did not exist' and the urgent need for more polling stations.
- Nineteen Highlands Voters Stricken From the Rolls for Staying Home
A misunderstanding about closing time—and simple indifference—cost 19 registered voters their places on the precinct books in 1916.
- An Election Day of Peace and Poll-Side Scuffles
While Seattleites crowded the streets to await national results, local voting remained largely orderly, save for a few spirited scuffles and one man brandishing a cane.
- The Unwelcome Tax Man
A Seattle poll tax assessor describes the frustration and absurdity of tracking down residents in a city where the transient population and the immigrant community resisted his rounds.
- The Ladies Turn Out First for Olympia's $40,000 School Bonds
The polls open in the Central School building on a bond issue for the city schools, and women are on hand casting ballots from the first hour.
- The Knights of Labor Shake Up Seattle Politics
An unprecedented turnout at the polls signaled the arrival of a new, militant force in Seattle's municipal governance.
- The Harbor Plan That Won on 214 Votes—and Three Ballots on Nob Hill
A port-district proposition for harbor improvements passed by 22 votes in a listless special election, with one polling place recording only three ballots.
- The Fight for Private Ballots
Spokane voters are demanding an end to the era of 'ward heelers' peering over their shoulders at the polls.
- The Mysterious Case of 'John Doe' at the Polls
A crackdown on anonymous, blank warrants used to harass voters during Seattle’s city elections.
- The Ballot Box Was Too Full in Franklin
Populists brought witnesses to court to show that votes in Franklin precinct were pushed, shaken and crammed into an overflowing box—irregularity, they argued, even if not outright fraud.
- The Carpenter Who Went to Jail on Principle
A local carpenter faces jail time after refusing to pay a poll tax, equating his plight to the political climate of Tsarist Russia.