CONTENTS 10/29/2020
VoteWashington Is Local!
Signature Match
Drop Box Recommended
Ballot Delivery
From Where They Are
Potato Gun Incident
Mayor Discourages Trick-Or-Treating
Jaeger Street Halloween House
Aaron Guest Concert
Radio Free Fl!p: A Water Over Stone
VOTEWASHINGTON is local!
Correction of a correction!
From a neighbor:
votewashington.info was developed by my husband Jake (Lynn Street) and his friend who lives on Sandy Point. They built it 3 years ago because the state site is challenging to navigate. It’s an all volunteer effort that uses public data from the Secretary of State site. Jake met with Kim Wyman today and she said she’d walk back her statement on it. The “rejected “ ballot language is from the public data file. ~ Elizabeth Hartsoch, mulliganelizabetha@gmail.com
https://www.votewashington.info/voter/wa/wm
From a news story:
“State political parties and lobbyists have been using and processing the available state voter data for years, and the creators of the site figured average citizens should have access to it, too.”
From the website:
Number of Challenged Ballots in Whatcom: 1073 (1.1%)
Ballots will first be received and then will either get accepted or challenged. Challenged ballots are not permanently rejected, they can be resolved through a process called curing, you can make sure your vote is counted if it has been challenged by contacting your county auditor’s office.
https://www.votewashington.info/voter/wa/wm
SIGNATURE MATCH
The auditor sends a letter to those whose ballots are rejected. We no longer have to go sign in person at the courthouse. (I did, and was given a form to sign). It was the same form that the auditor mails out and can be returned by mail. The deadline for returning them is later than election day. If received in the mail, it has to be signed and returned. ~ Robina Page
DROP BOX RECOMMENDED
While they will accept ballots postmarked by Nov 3, IIRC, printed very clearly on the ballot was that the last day they recommend you mail in your ballot was Oct 27. Now that we are past the 27th, from here on out everyone should hand deliver their ballot to the auditor’s office or drop it off in an official drop box. As of today it is likely too late to mail in your ballot with the guarantee it will be postmarked by Nov 3. ~ Tony Cava
BALLOT DELIVERY
Who needs help getting their ballots to the box? I’m ready to help. The USPS has been slowed and is no longer reliable to get it there in time. Give a holler! ~ Lisa Citron
FROM WHERE THEY ARE
Created by Kuntz and Company (KC), from where they are is a screen piece that shares the perspectives of 14 children, ages 7-16, on their time during these early months of COVID-19.
KC’s work typically happens at the Firehouse Arts and Events Center, their home since 2005. As there is nothing typical about these past several months, this piece strays from live performance and comes into your home via your computer screen.
All money paid to view this piece ($5 rental charge) goes directly to the Firehouse.
[One of the children in the piece asks people watching to vote…which is why I am trying to get it viewed as much as possible NOW! Kuntz & Co has done amazing work for many years, linking arts to our community. Their work embeds local just-plain-folks in a matrix of skilled and compassionate professionals. They bring our own voices to us, set in beauty and deep emotion. I would never miss one of their performances. ~ Fl!p]
POTATO GUN INCIDENT 10/27/20
My family lives on Park Street across from Elizabeth Park. Around 8:30 pm on Tuesday night we were startled by what sounded like a gunshot and then the spray of glass shards throughout our living room. After calming our 7 year old daughter who was sitting several feet from the door, we determined that someone had shot a potato, likely with a potato gun, at our front door; shattering a thick glass panel on our front door and sending potato bits and glass all over our living room. It was very frightening and despite the fact that we have video surveillance, due to the darkness and distance from which the potato gun was likely fired, nothing was captured on the video. We did notify Bellingham Police. We hope that this was a teenage prank gone wrong, rather than an intentional targeting of our family. Either way, the resulting damage to our home and sense of security was concerning. We wanted to notify the neighborhood in case others were also victims of such an incident and had more information. We are also hoping that if any families have one of these potato guns they will ensure that it is not used in this manner on any other community members. Thank you, ~ Mamie Guillaume, Park Street mamieguillaume@gmail.com.
MAYOR DISCOURAGES TRICK-OR-TREATING
From WhatcomTalk: City of Bellingham, written by Janice Keller
With Halloween just around the corner, Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood joins local health officials encouraging everyone to celebrate safely to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. This includes avoiding traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating – especially in typically popular Bellingham residential neighborhoods – and incorporating face masks and social distancing into Halloween activities.
JAEGER STREET HALLOWEEN HOUSE
Trick or Treaters: Due to Covid-19 we will NOT be partaking in handing candy out BUT we did do the outside up for ALL the neighborhood kiddos. Happy Halloween Columbia, have a safe night. ~Jared Jones-Valentine, 2400 block of Jaeger (you can’t miss it!)
AARON GUEST CONCERT TONIGHT
Fairhaven College Live Streaming Music Festival Fall Series
Tonight, Thursday Oct. 29th, 7:00 PM
Folk Music: According to musician and songwriter Aaron Guest, rhythm and music will exist as long as there are particles in the air to vibrate. He uses styles and rhythms deviating from the classical style of his background, seemingly inspired by the beauty around him, reflective of the cycles of life, rising, falling, circling, spinning. To him, music is communication and people inherently know how to relate.
Click this link at 7 PM tonight: https://www.facebook.com/groups/298533994557015
RADIO FREE FL!P: WATER OVER STONE
Gordon Bok with Ed Trickett & Ann Mayo Muir. Not scary. Really beautiful! There is something deep and ancient within this song. And profoundly spooky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L3qkx4I5RE
Love/Fl!p 360-671-4511 2518 Cherry Street flip@columbianeighborhood.org
If you want to ask me to post something, just email me. If it’s urgent, phone. If it’s a real emergency, call 911.