2020 Police Reform Voter Guide
Election Summary
The months leading up to the election saw a robust national discussion on police accountability and reform, with widely varying opinions on best paths forward.
Our group’s work advocating for police accountability in our local communities has made us well aware of the important role our local government and elected officials play in driving policy around this issue.
Appreciating the impact of down ballot races on our day-to-day lives, our hope was to empower voters with a non-partisan resource to understand how to vote their values through a lens of police reform.
Voter Guide Sections
The entire State House and half of the State Senate were up for election in November 2020.
In January 2021, the State Legislature convened for a few short months to consider and pass new state laws.
The opportunity to address issues such as qualified immunity, collective bargaining reform and more lay in the hands of who we sent to Olympia for the 2021 Legislative Session.
This section of the Voter Guide served to educate on the issues at stake and where our candidates stood.
The King County Council approved sending seven charter amendments to the November 2020 ballot. Four of them pertained to police accountability.
This section of the Voter Guide served to educate on how these four charter amendments could impact the future of policing and public safety across King County,
Voter Guide Methodology
Candidate Questionnaire
A candidate questionnaire was sent out to all State Legislature candidates in early September. Based on the candidate answers to a series of Yes/No questions, a candidate comparison card for each race was generated. For those who wanted to dig deeper into candidate stances, the fully completed questionnaires which also include longer-form responses to questions related to police reform are available for viewing.
Candidate Research
All research was performed by People Power volunteers through publicly-available information using resources such as Ballotpedia, Vote Smart, Public Disclosure Commission, candidate websites, and more.
We hope that voters can use this initial research to get a better idea of who their candidates are and then look further into matters important to them.
Note: Due to limited volunteer capacity, not every candidate’s research worksheet is filled out. Volunteers first focused on their own candidates.
Issue Explainers
For more information on the issues referenced in the candidate questionnaire, People Power volunteers put together the following explainers: