Elections: Stay informed
I recently trained to be an observer as ballots are counted in King County. The process is full of checks and balances, giving me confidence that King County’s voters will be counted properly.
However, although voting is the most important responsibility of citizens in a democracy, many people do not vote, some deliberately and some simply forgetting until it is too late. To help assure that everyone who wants to vote will be reminded, King County offers a free service to let you know when your ballot has been mailed to you, when it has been received at King County Elections, when the signature has been verified, and when your ballot has been counted.
It’s simple — just register for alerts at kce.wiki/TrackMyBallot.
Gary Goldbaum, Seattle
Troops and testosterone: Concerns
Re: “Hegseth plans to test service members for low testosterone” (July 16, A2):
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommends screening troops for testosterone deficiency with the goal of keeping troops “strong, resilient and capable” by providing supplemental testosterone to men with low levels.
There are two concerns in this policy that he did not discuss: The lack of reproducible evidence that supplemental testosterone will make troops strong, resilient and capable; and the possibility that supplemental testosterone might accelerate hardening of the arteries and growth of latent prostate cancer in these men.
Lawrence True, Seattle
Classical music: Inspiring young minds and hearts
Re: “How youth orchestras compose community” (July 14, Education Lab):
As the founder of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra, I want to thank you for the student guest essay stating something that we youth symphony conductors have always known: How much serious classical music means to young minds and hearts.
There is no escaping the fact that song was probably the first language in the world. How the young people come back to say what it means to them to have known about Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and other great composers of serious classical music is always gratifying to me and other youth symphony conductors.
Frances K. Walton, Issaquah
Diversity efforts: An irony
Re: “Nike was the poster child for diversity efforts. That made it a Trump target” (July 16, Business):
If Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas is so consumed with worry about “companies whose practices she says have been unfair to white men,” as the article states, then perhaps she should be concerned that she herself occupies a position for which I’m sure there’s an equally qualified white male.
If she cares so deeply about the angst of discrimination against white males, maybe she should resign as EEOC chair so that a qualified white male can take his rightful place as EEOC chair in the Trump administration’s herculean efforts to promote workplace equality.
Laura Livingston, Bellingham
Daylight saving time: ‘No one likes changing clocks twice a year’
Re: “WA lawmakers split on switch to permanent daylight saving time” (July 17, Local News):
As someone who is like “death warmed over” every morning, I really don’t understand people who think standard time is healthier.
With 4 p.m. winter darkness, kids don’t play after school, nor do adults walk the dog safely. Also, businesses and restaurants are more likely to benefit with later daylight.
No one likes changing clocks twice a year. Let’s do this!
Wanda Granquist, Auburn
Lindsey Graham: Relevance vs. values
Re: “Lindsey Graham knew better” (July 19, Opinion):
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham said that he sought “to be relevant.” The tragedy of this moment in our history is that so many people, like Graham, have decided that relevance requires abandoning our values and submitting to corruption.
Instead: May the Lord move us to seek relevance by defending and living out our true values with integrity.
Charles Delahunt, Seattle
World Cup: Beware ‘Seattle Process’
Re: “Seattle, the World Cup brought possibility. Let’s build on it” (July 19, Opinion):
Seattle finally felt big-league for a minute.
Now Mayor Katie Wilson gets to prove whether that World Cup spark survives the legendary and infamous “Seattle Process” habit of turning any decision, big or small, into a slow-motion obstacle course of meetings, studies, stakeholder roundtables, public-comment periods and “further review” that endlessly spawn “14 subcommittees” for every initiative before anything actually happens.
In other words, the Seattle Process is how a city can host the World Cup, feel electrified, and then immediately bury momentum under procedural molasses, and spend years talking about doing something before ever doing it.
It’s not an official structure. It’s a civic personality trait.
Michael J. Dooley, Olympia
Financial literacy: Managing budgets, big and small
Re: “Financial literacy should be part of new graduation requirements” (July 22, Opinion):
I totally agree with the author, both a state senator and a teacher. I hope it’s not lost on him that, had this requirement been in place years earlier, our elite state legislators might know how to manage a budget.
Gary Teeter, Renton
Library levy: ‘Crucial importance’
Re: “Prop. No. 1, property tax levy for the Seattle Public Library: Vote no” (July 14, Opinion):
I strongly disagree with the editorial urging voters to be against Prop. 1, the proposed property tax levy for Seattle Public Libraries.
Our public libraries are the last urban refuge for anyone who enjoys going out but doesn’t want to have to spend money.
I visit my local branch(es) several times a week, constantly checking out books, movies, music CDs and more. There are often interesting, fun programs (like amazing music shows), tutoring, children’s story times and much more. And all for free.
(As a bit of an aside, can you imagine how outraged our right-wing politicians would be by such a — gasp! — socialist agenda as public libraries now if they didn’t already exist?)
The property tax costs the editorial lists seem to be a pittance compared with what we receive. The editorial board writes that “voters here are generous.” So, let it be: We’re smart and understand the crucial importance of public libraries.
Yes to any and all library funding. Maybe we could cancel support for other nonessentials like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, foreign wars, billionaire tax cuts, etc. (I realize these may not come from the same funding sources, but, still …)
Bruce Greeley, Seattle
Education: Skills worth learning
Re: “Hands-on learning is increasingly essential. Why is it so hard to find?” (July 17, Northwest):
During my education in high school and college, I always wondered whether what I learned would be useful. Would it help me make a living? I was exposed to the most interesting and wonderful subjects: literature, history, art, sciences. Heck, I studied ancient Greek and Latin at the University of Washington for two years and graduated with a comparative literature degree.
However, the most profitable class I took was in the sixth grade — woodworking. For a hands-on guy like myself, woodworking beat the academic classes. It gave me the knowledge to use tools and the confidence to build.
When I was ready to settle down and buy a house, the 30-year mortgage and interest payments convinced me that, with my woodworking skills, learned at school, I could build a house myself. Well, I built three, each taking me a few years, but I never went into debt.
Carpentry is a lifelong skill worth learning. Shakespeare, Plato and Dante are fascinating subjects but they do not often lead to jobs. My former high school used to offer high-demand welding, woodworking, car mechanics, pottery classes — all gone, replaced by advance placement classes, then the future of education.
James Behrend, Bainbridge Island
Millionaires tax: Hearts and minds
Re: “Initiative to repeal WA ‘millionaires tax’ qualifies for November ballot” (July 15, Local News):
I’m tempted to join the fight to defeat this fall’s attempted repeal of the millionaires tax. My only reservation is this: What if we haven’t done the real work of winning hearts and minds? Winning a vote and winning people over aren’t the same thing, and only one of them lasts.
Consider what defeating the repeal, without those hearts and minds, would actually accomplish. The people avoiding taxes most successfully don’t have salaries over $1 million. Billionaires take equity instead of a paycheck and won’t pay a dime of this or any other millionaires tax. Meanwhile, even a win could backfire, fueling conservative campaigns and division among constituents for years. A narrow victory without buy-in is fragile, which is why this tax is on the ballot.
The real work isn’t in the vote; it’s in the values. I don’t make a million dollars a year, but if I did, I’d be proud to fund a strong social safety net and public schools, because my future is tied to my neighbors’ and strong public systems make freedom possible for all. Those are the beliefs progressives need to strengthen and one vote can’t build them for us.
Mary Jha, Seattle
Socialism: ‘Educate yourself’
Judging by recent columns and letters in The Seattle Times, everybody is an expert about socialism and communism — except for those who actually claim the label. I’m proud to say I have been a revolutionary socialist for the majority of my seven decades. As Clara Fraser (once headlined in the Post-Intelligencer as “Seattle’s Grande Dame of Socialism”) wrote: “Socialism (and its final stage of communism) is a wonderful goal, a beautiful and necessary vision to live and die for, a promise of a lifestyle irresistible in its harmony, workability, naturalness, passion and compassion.”
Capitalism is the opposite, rife with greed, war, bigotry, extreme poverty side-by-side with grotesque wealth, destruction of the Earth and commodification of every human impulse.
Moderates are anxious about the impact of Democratic Socialists of America within the Democratic Party. But any group that allies with that capitalist party is no socialist, whether democratic socialist or social democratic as one hairsplitter tried to parse (“Elections: Confusion over ‘socialist,’ ” July 19, Opinion). Its impact will be negligible.
Another Red Scare is upon us, with censorship, frame-ups and hyperbole abounding. What to do? Educate yourself! Look up the radical press, talk with dissidents and form your own opinions.
Helen Gilbert, Seattle
Energy grid: Second industrial revolution
Re: “WA’s clean energy transition will fail without giant batteries” (July 12, Opinion):
In 2025, we entered the second industrial revolution.
The first industrial revolution was about getting fossil fuels to do work for us. Fossil fuels produced steam, which powered locomotives, steam shovels and power plants.
In 1882, a coal-fired generator was built in the basement of JP Morgan’s New York City house to power its incandescent light bulbs. Now JPMorgan Chase has covered its parking lot with 40,000 solar panels to power its operations in Columbus, Ohio.
In 2025, annual U.S. power consumption grew to a new record. According to energy think tank Ember, 75% of that growth was met with solar plus batteries, and most of that happened in red states, Texas in particular. Globally, 99% of grid growth was met with renewables. Renewables went up, coal went down. Renewables have won.
Grid-scale batteries allow solar energy to be shifted into the evening.
Starting July 1, Australians started getting free electricity midday for three hours to persuade hospitals, hotels and the public to do their laundry during the day when electricity is abundant.
The second industrial revolution has arrived, nearly everywhere, except west of the Cascades because of our weather. It’ll take us a few years longer.
Don Steinke, Vancouver
