Cascade Bicycle Club is proud to announce our early endorsements for the 2012 election cycle.  In order to receive an early endorsement from Cascade, candidates must demonstrate exceptional leadership in creating a better community through bicycling.

America is founded on our right to shape our own future, and if we want a future where everyone has the freedom to safely ride their bike, we need elected officials committed to building this future.

That’s why we work hard to ensure that our elected officials understand and support our vision of a community that bicycles, where bicycling is normal, convenient and safe for everyone; and why we work hard to provide our 14,000 members with information regarding candidates for elected office.

All of Cascade’s early endorsed candidates have shown a strong commitment to working toward a future Washington where everyone who wants to can ride because our state is connected by world-class bicycling infrastructure.

We’re looking forward to continuing our work with all of these fantastic leaders to make the investments in bicycling necessary to build a future where everyone has the freedom to safely ride their bicycle; whether they’re riding to work, school, the store, Vancouver, Portland, or just for the fun of it.

Cascade Bicycle Club’s 2012 early endorsements include:

Governor

Jay Inslee with his son Connor

Jay Inslee (Statewide).   Jay Inslee shares Cascade’s vision of a Washington where everyone has the freedom to safely ride their bicycle to get where they need to go.  He recognizes that all Washingtonians are better off when we invest in safe and convenient bicycle infrastructure as bicycling improves local economies, creates more jobs per dollar spent than any other type of transportation investment, and provides people with an affordable way to get around.  As a devoted rider of his bicycle to get to work and for fun, Jay has first-hand knowledge of the myriad benefits of investments in bicycling.  Whereas his opponent did not return Cascade’s questionnaire and has shown no interest in working to realize a community that bicycles, Jay Inslee has demonstrated decades of leadership in creating a better community through bicycling.

State Senate

Andy Billig (3^rd – Spokane).  In his first term in the legislature, Rep. Billig established himself as a smart, devoted and effective advocate for creating a better community through bicycling.  As the vice chair of the Transportation committee, Rep. Billig displayed tremendous leadership in securing additional funding for Washington’s Safe Routes to School program and demonstrating how bicycling is a creative solution to lowering health care costs.

David Frockt (46^th – Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Northeast Seattle).  New to the Senate and its Transportation committee, Sen. Frockt demonstrated intelligence, accessibility and effectiveness in his work to make bicycling safer and more convenient.  He has a unique ability to skillfully navigate challenging transportation issues while balancing competing interests in order to find common sense solutions that make our streets safer for all.

Christine Rolfes (23^rd – Kitsap County).  Sen. Rolfes has been a champion for making it convenient and safe for people to bicycle around Washington.  She’s worked hard to connect Kitsap County with Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula through her efforts to ensure a bicycle-friendly ferry system and Hood Canal bridge, helping to provide people with an affordable way to get to work while promoting tourism and economic development.

State House of Representatives

Sherry Appleton (23^rd – Kitsap County).  Rep. Appleton has been a steadfast supporter of the issues important to Cascade Bicycle Club.  She is an eloquent spokesperson against policies that waste valuable taxpayer dollars and fail to solve the problems they’re intended to remedy, like licensing bicycles.

Judy Clibborn (41^st – Bellevue, Mercer Island, Newcastle).  As chair of the Transportation committee, Rep. Clibborn displayed tactful leadership in providing a clear path for pro-bicycling legislation and funding for bicycle infrastructure.  She’s committed to making sure that future transportation funding decisions include significant investments in bicycling.

Eileen Cody (34^th – Burien, West Seattle, Vashon Island).  Rep. Cody, an avid rider of her bicycle, has been a leader in demonstrating the strong connection between how we build our transportation system and our health.  As chair of the Health Care & Wellness committee, Rep. Cody was the second sponsor on legislation to include health in the state transportation system policy goals.

Hans Dunshee

Hans Dunshee (44^th – Lake Stevens, Mill Creek, Snohomish).  Rep. Dunshee is a passionate and powerful advocate for creating jobs by funding safe and convenient bicycle infrastructure.  As chair of the Capital Budget committee, Rep. Dunshee included funding for a new grant program in the capital budget that will help cities and towns across Washington fund bicycle and pedestrian projects to help revitalize their downtown business districts.

Joe Fitzgibbon (34^th – Burien, West Seattle, Vashon Island).  Rep. Fitzgibbon is a tireless and outspoken advocate for the issues important to Cascade Bicycle Club.  He prime sponsored and helped pass legislation which provides cities and counties the flexibility to use updated guidelines for designing bicycle and pedestrian projects, increasing safety and reducing project costs.

Marko Liias (21^st – Edmonds, Mukilteo, Lynwood).  Rep. Liias has proven himself a reliable, accessible, and creative leader on making it easier and safer for people to bicycle.  He provided especially strong leadership working to ensure people have the freedom to use their bikes to get where they need to go on transit.

Jim Moeller (49^th – Vancouver).  Rep. Moeller has been a consistent and dependable supporter of bicycling.  In 2011 Rep. Moeller prime sponsored and helped pass legislation creating a complete streets grant program.

Jamie Pedersen (43^rd – Seattle).  As chair of the Judiciary committee, Rep. Pedersen played an important role in helping to pass legislation helping to protect vulnerable users of our roads.  He’s dedicated to continuing his work to make our streets safer for all, regardless of how you choose to get around.

Cindy Ryu (32^nd – Edmonds, Shoreline, Woodway).  Rep. Ryu understands that especially during these challenging times, cities and towns should have local control to make their streets safer without unnecessary red tape.  She’s prime sponsored and fought tenaciously the past two years to pass the Neighborhood Safe Speeds bill, which would have made safer streets and neighborhoods by empowering cities and towns with the freedom to set speed limits to 20 miles per hour on non-arterial streets without a costly engineering and traffic study.

For more information regarding how Cascade Bicycle Club makes our electoral endorsement decisions, you can read our electoral endorsement policies and procedures here.

You mailed in your ballot by November 8 (right!?), but are you absolutely sure your vote got counted?

Thankfully, King County Elections makes it easy to find out through their online ballot tracker.

Every year around 2% of all mail in ballots are challenged and not counted until the voter remedies the situation.  Nearly all of these challenges involve signature problems, which can result from a range of things – forgetting to sign your ballot, your signature no longer matching what’s on file with King County, you changed your name, you accidentally signed your wife/husband/roommate’s ballot by mistake (and vice-versa).  There’s a laundry list of common gaffes that can lead to a challenge, and it’s really not a big deal, as long as you fix the problem and make sure that your vote gets counted.

King County Elections works hard to follow up with people who have their ballots challenged, but at the end of the day, it’s up to you to make sure that your vote gets counted.  Click here to make sure King County Elections counted your vote, and if they didn’t, give them a call at 206-296-VOTE (8683).

There are a number of races where your vote could literally make the difference for a Cascade endorsed candidate.  In the race for: Pacific City Council – Joshua Putnam leads by only 14 votes, Bellevue City Council – John Stokes is barely holding on to a 79 vote lead, Tukwila City Council – Kate Kruller is only 90 votes ahead, Edmonds City Council – Diane Buckshnis is leading by only 142 votes, Kirkland City Council – Jessica Greenway is only 237 votes behind, Seattle City Council – Bobby Forch has come all the back to trail by less than 3,500 votes (out of nearly 150,000 counted).

Thank you for taking the time to mail in your ballot, now please take 30 seconds to make sure your vote gets counted, it could make the difference.