Seattle Mayor in Tight Primary Race

Mayor Paul Schell, hoping to avoid being the first Seattle mayor voted out of office since 1956, trailed his top two rivals in early primary returns Tuesday.

With about 22,000 absentee ballots counted, City Atty. Mark Sidran had garnered 38% of the vote, to County Councilman Greg Nickels’ 25% and Schell’s 22%.

The absentee ballots that have been counted so far represented 7% of registered voters in the city, said election supervisor Julie Anne Kempf.

The top two finishers in Tuesday’s primary advance to the general election in November.

The candidates had put much of their campaigning on hold over the last week because of the terrorist attacks.

“Obviously, if this hadn’t happened, we’d have been a lot more focused on the campaign,” the mayor said. “It’s not about the campaign this last week. It’s been about the community coming together to deal with something that’s going to be with us for a long time.”

In a poll released late last month, the three top candidates were in a statistical tie, each taking 21% to 25% of the vote.

All three top candidates are Democrats in this solidly liberal city of some 563,000 people. Nine lesser-known candidates complete the field.

Schell, in his first term, needed to overcome several difficulties that have marked his administration. World Trade Organization protests shut down the city in 1999, Mardi Gras rioting left one dead and more than 70 injured this year, and Boeing decided to move its headquarters to Chicago.

Both of Seattle’s daily newspapers endorsed Sidran, best known for pushing through “civility laws,” which banned sitting on sidewalks in business districts and boosted penalties for public urination and aggressive panhandling.

The local Democratic Party endorsed Nickels, who also had support from most labor groups. He boasts of his efforts to improve public transportation.

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed predicted Monday that voter turnout would jump as much as one-third--to at least 30%--because of patriotic fervor in response to the terrorist attacks Sept. 11.

“I think you’re going to see a real effort by people to cast an informed ballot,” Reed said.

Several voters at one precinct said the tragedies reminded them of their rights as Americans.

“I always like to vote anyway,” said Steve Butler as he held the hand of his 8-year-old daughter, Madison. “I think it’s the American responsibility and patriotic duty. I think the overall mood of patriotism and support for the victims will bring people out.”