Politics Northwest

The Seattle Times political team explores state, regional and local politics.

October 31, 2008 11:33 AM

Sound Transit catches a ballot break

Light-rail supporters have worried that pro-transit voters (especially younger voters) would miss Sound Transit Proposition 1, at the end of a lengthy ballot. Campaign mailings went so far as to tell people to read the bottom first -- then proceed to the presidential race and others near the top. The Seattle ballot contains more than 30 races and measures.

But it turns out that when the ballots were printed, Sound Transit landed at or near the upper right-hand corner of the back page, in both Seattle and Bellevue. The top right is considered prime position -- at least in the newspaper business -- to catch someone's attention.

"It's not a bad place to be," said Alex Fryer, spokesman for Mass Transit Now. "Maybe there's a silver lining to it."

Mark Baerwaldt, treasurer of notoprop1.org, downplayed the effect of the top-right slot. "It's not going to be close," he said, predicting a rout by his side.

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