Welcome to the Friday, October 27, Brew.
By: Samuel Wonacott
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- All candidates for Lake Washington School District School Board District 5 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey
- An update on 2024 presidential and statewide election dates and deadlines
- #FridayTrivia: What percentage of state legislative incumbents running for re-election this year were defeated in primaries?
All candidates for Lake Washington School District School Board District 5 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey
Janel Schermerhorn and Lindsey Yocum are running in the Nov. 7 nonpartisan general election for District 5 on the Lake Washington School District School Board, in King County, Washington. Both completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey.
Our survey allows voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office, and it’s one of the ways we’re helping to solve the ballot information problem. Another way we’re tackling that problem is through an expansion of our school board coverage. This year, we’re covering nearly 9,000 school board elections in 28 states—our most ever in a single year.
That expanded coverage, including comprehensive coverage in 10 states (including Washington), has gone hand-in-hand with a series of enhancements we’re making to articles on the school districts themselves. These enhancements make it easy for voters to find the most up-to-date information about their local districts, including data on election rules, district budgets, staff, academic performance, and more.
Let’s learn about the candidates running for District 5—and the district one of them will help oversee.
Candidates
Yocum said her experience includes working as an executive director of a nonprofit farm, a director of a nonprofit school, and an educator in the Highly Capable program at the Lake Washington School District.
Here’s what Yocum selected as one of her three key campaign messages:
- “Experience Matters: It’s time for an experienced educator to help lead our district. As a 15-year community member and teacher, I understand the challenges and opportunities facing our district, the communities LWSD serves, the realities of working in a classroom and school, and have the desire to engage and collaborate with all community members. It’s important for our school board to have representation from someone who understands the intricacies of our classrooms while shaping and monitoring district policy.
Schermerhorn said she has more than 25 years working for businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Here’s what Schermerhorn selected as one of her three key campaign messages:
- “Our excellent schools must respond to societal changes and commit to every student’s success. I will advocate for a high-quality, future-focused education for all, regardless of starting point, background, or path after graduation. This means building systems for academic and social success, like ensuring students can access challenging pathways early and often and ensuring the district uses more robust data analyses to understand performance gaps and deliver targeted support.
Both candidates also told Ballotpedia that the King County Democrats endorsed them. Click here to see the 2023 King County Democrats’ endorsements.
Lake Washington School District
Our Lake Washington School District article provides a wealth of information regarding school board members, election rules, finances, academics, policies, and more (including a district map!). Let’s take a look.
The district is located east of Seattle, and includes the city of Redmond. District boundaries overlap Washington state House districts 1, 41, 45, and 48, which all have Democratic representatives. Below is a map of the district.
- Student enrollment: The district had 30,730 students in 58 schools in the 2021-2022 school year, down 0.8% from the year before.
- Academic performance: In 2018-2019, 79% of students were proficient or better in math and 85% were proficient or better in reading/language arts.
- Graduation rates: 94% of students graduated high school in 2019-2020.
- Staff: The district had 1,670 full-time teachers, for an 18.4 student-teacher ratio, in 2021-2022. The district employed 25 district and 104 school administrators.
- Budget: 2018-2019 revenues were $555 million, about $18,100 per student. Local governments provided 61% of revenues, the state government 35%, and the federal government 2%.
Along with the categories mentioned above, you can also read about the election rules that govern the district and see the district’s election history.
Click below to explore the district.
An update on 2024 presidential and statewide election dates and deadlines
We last looked at 2024 dates and deadlines in the Oct. 17 edition of this newsletter. At that time, 40 states and D.C. had confirmed both their 2024 statewide and presidential primary dates
Since then, no new states have confirmed either or both dates. However, since Oct. 17, several states confirmed their candidate filing deadlines.
Candidates must meet a variety of state-specific filing requirements and deadlines to run. These regulations, known as ballot access laws, may include collecting petition signatures, paying filing fees, or both.
States that have confirmed their candidate filing deadlines since Oct. 17 include:
- Massachusetts (statewide primary): May 7, 2024
- South Carolina (statewide primary: March 30, 2024
- Maine (presidential primary): December 1, 2023
- New Hampshire (presidential primary): October 27, 2023
Filing deadlines for major party and unaffiliated statewide candidates in 2024 will start with Alabama on Nov. 10, 2023, and end with Delaware and North Dakota on Sept. 3, 2024. Filing deadlines for major party and unaffiliated presidential candidates in 2024 will start with Nevada on Oct. 16 and end with Kentucky on Sept. 6.
Here’s recap of where things stand with 2024 statewide and presidential primary dates:
Forty-one states, Guam, and the District of Columbia have confirmed the dates for their 2024 statewide primaries through the release of an official election calendar, enacted legislation, or candidate filing instructions.
Alabama, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, and Texas will all share the earliest 2024 statewide primary date, which is March 5 (Super Tuesday!). Louisiana will hold the latest statewide primary on Nov. 5 due to its unique majority-vote system.
Forty-five states, three U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia have confirmed the date for at least one of their presidential nominating contests.
Iowa has confirmed the earliest presidential nominating contest, with Republicans in the state holding presidential caucuses on Jan. 15. South Carolina’s Democratic Party has confirmed the earliest presidential preference primary on Feb. 3.
So far, 16 states and D.C. have confirmed their statewide and presidential primaries and scheduled both for the same date.
Click below to read more about 2024 dates and deadlines.
#FridayTrivia: What percentage of state legislative incumbents running for re-election this year were defeated in primaries?
In the Tuesday Brew, we looked at how incumbents fared in Louisiana’s Oct. 14 state legislative primaries.
From 2010 to 2022, an average of 3.3% of state legislative incumbents lost in even-year primaries. From 2011 to 2021, an average of 2.5% of incumbents were defeated in odd-numbered years.
What percentage of state legislative incumbents running for re-election in 2023 were defeated in primaries?