Special election precinct results: Ten Trails grows in political power

Published 2:00 pm Friday, March 6, 2026

King and Pierce County have certified the special February 2026 elections, and both the Enumclaw and White River School Districts’ two levy renewal propositions were approved by voters.

But how did various sections of the Plateau vote? And how do these precincts compare to how they voted in 2022?

The Courier-Herald examines election precinct data after all the ballots are counted and the election certified to track changes and trends in the local political realm.

For the recent election, the Courier-Herald only examined Enumclaw, Black Diamond, and unincorporated King County residents in the ESD voting district and votes for and against the Enumclaw School District’s Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) levy; the EP&O levy was the more financially-consequential of the two on the ballots, comprising about 16% of ESD’s total budget.

Overall, nearly 36.5% of ESD voters participated in the last election — just under the 36.75% of voters that participated in the February 2022 election, the last time the district ran an EP&O levy.

However, support for the EP&O levy increased, from just over 51% in 2022 to nearly 54.5%.

Six hundred and thirty more people participated in the last election over 2022, while the total registered number of voters increased by nearly 1,900.

BLACK DIAMOND BECOMING A POWERHOUSE

The city of Black Diamond has certainly grown since the February 2022 election, rising from just about 6,100 people to 7,300 last year, according to World Population Review.

This last election may be an example of Black Diamond’s increasing influence on city and Enumclaw School District elections, especially in the Ten Trails neighborhood; there were more than 1,000 more registered voters recorded in the last election than four years ago.

Additionally, about 530 more people cast a ballot last February over the 2022 election — the highest increase on the Plateau — and the vast majority (400) approved the levy measure.

Overall support of the levy led by 14 points in both the 2022 and last February’s election.

ENUMCLAW STAYS THE COURSE

The city of Enumclaw experienced the second-most voter growth, with more than 561 additional registered voters recorded in the area over February 2022.

However, only 84 more people participated in the last election; 125 more people approved of the levy measure over the last EP&O levy, while 41 less people voted to reject the measure.

The difference in ballots increased the levy approval rate by 1.5 points over the 2022 election.

FEWER VOTES IN UNINCORPORATED ENUMCLAW

The unincorporated Enumclaw area is interesting in that it experienced the largest amount of voters that appear to not have participated in the last election over the 2022 election.

In total, about 125 less people participated in the February election over four years ago.

This mostly affected “no” votes, as about 148 fewer ballots rejecting the EP&O levy were cast compared to 2022; at the same time, 24 more ballots supported the levy measure than in the previous election.

The number of registered voters in the area increased by 275.

The levy approval rate increased by about 3 points, from around 43% to 46%.

INCREASED OPPOSITION IN UNINCORPORATED BD

Last but not least, residents in unincorporated Black Diamond continued to reject EP&O levy measures, and opposition increased since 2022.

About 50 more ballots cast rejected the measure than were cast four years ago; at the same time, 15 fewer ballots approving the measure were submitted.

This increased the levy rejection rate by 6 points, from 56% in 2022 to 62% in February.

Only 48 more registered voters were recorded in the area since the 2022 election.