Go Vote Today for King Conservation District Supervisor

This post has been moved up: Do you work downtown? Can you get to the downtown library? Can you get out on your lunch hour? GO VOTE!

What folks are calling the "most important election you've never heard of" is held today at seven libraries in the county for an open seat on the King Conservation District's board of supervisors. But that's exactly the problem: You have to get your fanny to the library—and the only polling place in Seattle is at the downtown library. Because most people don't know about the election—or, hell, even what the state-mandated board does—conservatives have tried to stack the commission against environmental interests.

Last year, Republicans ballyhooed Preston Drew, who reportedly opposed a law to protect critical areas yet won by about 150 votes. Only 2,500 people voted in the entire county. Fuse warns that "anti-environmental conservatives have waged a successful, stealth campaign to take over seats."

So this year, concerned it could happen again, environmentalists and progressives are throwing their weight behind Max Prinsen. A former chair of the Conservation Board, Max Prinsen is the President of Save Habitat and Diversity of Wetlands, and he's captured the endorsement of Washington Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. Basically, Max Prinsen is an environmental conservationist with the bona fides to prove it. And this is a conservation board—this is the sort of candidate we want—not some tool beholden to development interests.

What the five-member board does: The King Conservation District manages a $6.3 million dollar budget, and it works on habitat restoration, helping farmers, protecting fish, setting the boundaries for suburban sprawl, and more. Sara Kiesler wrote about the election last month.

Info about all of the candidates, including Max Prinsen, is here. You can vote today at the downtown Seattle library at 4th Avenue and Madison Street from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Here's a list of all the polling locations.

Need more incentive? The Sierra Club and King County Conservation Voters are holding a "Party for Prinsen" at Sazerac, across the street from the Downtown Library on 4th and Seneca from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sazerac has a happy hour—which Bethany calls "pretty much insane"—that will make you swoon.