By Richard Winger Seattle holds city council elections this year. Washington state election law says that candidates get on the ballot by filing fee, or by petition in lieu of filing fee. The Seattle filing fee for city council is $1,199.76; or candidates can submit 1,200 valid signatures.
Amanda Helmick chose to submit a petition instead of a filing fee. She submitted 1,318 signatures, but only 1,195 were considered valid. She was willing to pay $5 filing fee to make up for the 5 missing signatures, but Washington state law does not allow candidates to submit a mixture of signatures …read more