Two of the losing candidates in the recent election for the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council are protesting the election results because the write-in candidate who beat them distributed ballot stickers with her name printed on them.

Incumbent Steve Jeffries and challenger Jessica Stoneback both wrote letters to the North Highline Council challenging the election of Anette King May 18. The election was held at Evergreen High School, where King supporters handed out King ballot stickers to voters, who affixed the stickers to the write-in section of the ballot.

Jeffries and Stoneback argue voters must actually handwrite the name of a write-in candidate in the appropriate place on the ballot. Placing a sticker in the write-in box with the candidate's name printed on it shouldn't count, they said.

All three candidates were running for one of two seats on the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council representing District 3, which includes Mount View, Lakewood and Salmon Creek. King got 30 votes, Stoneback received 12 and Jeffries, the incumbent, got just one vote.

Council member Barbara Peters tried to get a legal opinion from the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office as to whether ballot stickers are OK but the office declined to issue an opinion, she said. The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council might have to seek a legal opinion from a private attorney, Peters added.

Although the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council is officially recognized by King County as a duly elected body, the county does not run the council's elections.

"If we were conducting the election, no stickers would be allowed," said Sandy McConnell, King County election operations supervisor. "You cannot adhere anything to a ballot."

The council decided to grapple with the election challenge at its at its next meeting June 15.

Meanwhile Anette King did not attend the first council meeting since the election. Neither did Teresa Vert, who also was elected to a seat on the council. However, the other newly elected members, Liz Giba and Cynthia Ruiz, took their places at the council table at the June 1 meeting.

The council thanked outgoing member Ruth Ann Mathias for her service as a council member. She was defeated in her try for re-election.

In other business at the meeting, the North Highline Council elected new officers for the coming year.

Steve Cox was elected president and Heidi Johnson was tapped as vice president. Outgoing president Russ Kay was elected recording secretary and Barbara Peters will continue as treasurer.

A couple dozen people from the Salmon Creek area attended the North Highline Council meeting because they're worried about a proposal to move a King County alternative education program called New Start from the White Center business disrict to Salmon Creek Elementary School.

The program is for young people ages 14 to 21 in the White Center and West Seattle area who've dropped out of school, are low income, gang-affiliated or been in trouble with the law.

They are tutored to either re-enter high school or take the test for a general equivalency diploma. The program offers home visits, family support and better ways to handle aggression. New Start also helps with "pre-employment training" as well as job searches.

Many people at the North Highline Council meeting said the New Start program sounds fine, but they don't want it in their neighborhood.

Newly elected council president Steve Cox, who works in White Center as a King County Sheriff's deputy, told the concerned parents New Start has a success rate of 60 to 70 percent. He is a supporter of the program but thinks New Start ought to stay at its current location at 11216 16th Ave. S.W.

A meeting about the proposed move is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8 at New Start. Then the North Highline Council will consider the issue at its next meeting, June 15, at the North Highline Fire Station at 1243 S.W. 112th St.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.