ELECTION: ST3 passing in King and Snohomish counties; Pierce rejecting Sound Transit measure

The Puget Sound Region is going to be connected by light rail. / Puget Sound voters narrowly/broadly passed an expansion of Sound Transit services 

Sound Transit Proposition 1, also known as ST3, was passing in King County with 58 percent of the vote by 8:42 p.m. Tuesday night, Nov. 8. Results were delayed in King County compared to the majority of Washington state.

ST3 was a plan approved by the Sound Transit Board in the summer that would have massively expanded the agency's rail and rapid transit networks in Seattle, the Eastside, Everett and Tacoma. The plan, estimated to cost $53.8 billion, would use a combination of a 0.5 percent sales and use tax increase, a $0.25 property tax per $1,000 of assessed valuation, and a 0.8 percent increase to the motor vehicle excise tax.

The plan would add 37 new stations to the existing light rail network in the Puget Sound region, extending the in-progress EastLink routes to Redmond and Issaquah, the NorthLink route to Paine Field in Everett and SouthLink to Federal Way and Tacoma. Within Seattle, the plan would add stations in Ballard, South Lank Union and West Seattle.

The proposition also faced fierce criticism from some Seattle property owners and wealthy figures like developer Kemper Freeman of Bellevue. Critics said ST3 would be expensive, take too long to implement and be obsolesced by emerging self-driving technologies, like those being currently being tested by rideshare company Uber in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

However, Uber's Pacific Northwest general Manager Brooke Steger told the Puget Sound Business Journal in October the company believed that future transportation needs would require a combination of mass transit and light rail.

Of course, the percentages cited above are specific to King County. ST3 must pass a simple majority of all counties in order to pass. As of Tuesday night, Proposition 1 was failing in Pierce County with a 55.53 percent rejection rate and passing in Snohomish County with 51.58 percent, allowing for a simple majority overall.