Prop. 1's lonely pocket of support

The only part of King County that supported this week's Roads & Transit Proposition 1 was the liberal 43rd Legislative District in north-central Seattle, which delivered a 53 percent yes vote.

Support bottomed out at around 37 percent in the Auburn area, in the south county, according to the district counts, released this morning by King County Elections. Overall, the measure failed in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties with a 44 percent yes vote, based on counts as of Thursday.

Seattle's 43rd District includes Capitol Hill, the University District, Roosevelt, Wallingford and part of downtown, and is considered a reliable source of votes for transit, parks, schools and social-service measures. Proposition 1 offered 50 miles of light rail to Lynnwood, Overlake and Tacoma — including a segment through the University District to Northgate. Sound Transit was planning to build from downtown to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium, regardless of Proposition 1.

Some environmental groups campaigned for the measure, but the Sierra Club fought it, saying that 186 miles of road lanes would aggravate global warming.

This morning's breakdown also shows that people did not necessarily vote based on their geographic interests — but maybe their pocketbooks.

Southwest King County was in line for a cornucopia of projects — an extension of Highway 509, a widening of Interstate 5, expansion of the I-5 interchange at Highway 18 in Federal Way, and light rail from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Tacoma. Their Metropolitan King County Council representative, Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, was a tireless, often emotional evangelist for the measure.

But the 30th District in Federal Way gave only 39 percent support, and the 33rd District, for SeaTac, Des Moines and much of Kent, produced a 41 percent yes vote.

The first known exit polling, done for the Sierra Club, indicates that somewhere between 6 percent and 11 percent of voters in urban Snohomish, King and Pierce counties voted no for environmental reasons, but the tax increase was a bigger factor.

Proposition 1 would have spent $38 billion over two decades, raised through sales and car-tab taxes.

Sound Transit is already starting to consider how and when to return to the ballot, while state officials today are starting talks on a financial rescue plan for a proposed Highway 520 floating bridge replacement.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com