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Driving change with the local ballot measure

One of the themes in Washington politics in recent years has been the use of the local ballot measures to drive change that eventually bubbles up to the state level. 

One of the reasons for this is that local ballot measures are comparably cheap because they require a much smaller number of signatures than a statewide initiative. The other is that you can more easily find an electorate disposed to do what you’re looking for if you choose a single community rather than the entire state. 

The push to raise Washington’s already high minimum wage to a “living wage” started with a local ballot measure in tiny Sea-Tac way back in 2013. More recently, we saw a suite of renter protections passed in Tacoma last year and an even more aggressive minimum-wage measure adopted in Everett, where voters spurned a sort-of-compromise offered by the restaurant industry.