King County, Washington, is that state’s most populous county. It includes Seattle. County elections officials have determined that an initiative, to make all county offices non-partisan, has qualified for the November ballot.

In response, the King County Council has voted to place a competing ballot measure on the November ballot. It would ask voters if they want non-partisan elections with party labels. Of course, that is fundamentally the policy in Washington state now (except for president), under the “top-two” law being used for the first time this year. Initiative proponents, with justification, charge that the county government’s competing ballot measure is just a maneuver to defeat the initiative.

On June 9, Public Policy Polling released the results of a Rhode Island poll on the electoral college. The results are that 75% desire a direct popular election. See here for the details. The poll included 800 respondents. The poll was probably commissioned because Rhode Island’s legislature is currently considering whether to approve the National Popular Vote bill.

The Working Families Party has been gathering strength in one particular legislative district of Brooklyn during this decade. The district, the 52nd Assembly district, includes Bay Ridge and Brooklyn Heights. In 2006, it polled 22.6% of the vote for Assembly in that district, almost triple what the Republican nominee polled. In 2004 it had also out-polled the Republicans, even though the WFP share of the vote had only been 11.5%. In 2002 there had been no Republican nominee in the race, and the WFP had polled 15.3%.

In each of these elections, the Working Families Party cross-endorsed the Democratic nominee, Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman. Generally when a minor party in New York is the kind of party that mostly doesn’t run its own nominees, and cross-endorses major party nominees, it gets between 3% and 5% of the vote in such races.