Sounders still about 10 percent short of making GM vote binding

About 31 percent of eligible voters have cast ballots for the Seattle Sounders’ second-ever vote on retaining their general manager, a team spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. That means that several thousand more votes must be cast in order to reach 40 percent, when the election’s results would become binding. In an effort to push the vote beyond that mark, the Sounders have extended the voting window until 7 p.m. PT (shortly after Wednesday’s game in Orlando City ends). Lagerwey also answered questions during a Facebook Live session on Tuesday.

Although it is now too late to vote in person, online ballots can still be cast.

It was not immediately clear if the Sounders planned to release results of the vote if it failed to reach 40 percent, but several polls conducted by Sounder at Heart suggest Lagerwey’s approval rating is well above 70 percent. A super-majority of 67 percent would need to vote “no confidence” in order for Lagerwey to be ousted from his position.

During the first election in 2012, Adrian Hanauer received just shy of 97 percent support out of nearly 14,000 ballots cast. That year the threshold for a valid election was set at 10,000 votes. The GM Vote mechanism was altered in 2016 after negotiations with the Sounders Alliance Council and then codified in 2017 when the changes to the Alliance Constitution were formally ratified.