Other LanguagesArticle XI, section 4 of the Washington Constitution does not prohibit a county from providing in its charter for the election of the prosecuting attorney as a nonpartisan office.
1. In Board of Estimate v. Morris the United States Supreme Court struck down a voting system in which borough presidents, who were voting members of the Board of Estimates, were elected by the voters of each borough and the boroughs varied greatly in population. 2. In San Juan County commissioners reside in commissioner districts that vary in population, however, the primary and general elections are conducted among voters of the county at large, not merely among the voters of the commissioner district. The United States Supreme Court has approved such at large voting systems, even where the candidates were required to reside in districts that varied in population. Board of Estimate v. Morris does not cast doubt on the validity of these decision. 3. The United States Supreme Court has struck down at large voting systems on grounds that they impermissible diluted the electoral strength of racial or other political minorities in the at large district. This is a factual question. At present we are unaware of any facts tending to show this to be the case in San Juan County.
Voter approval only constitutes a condition precedent to continuation of a port district tax levy under RCW 53.36.100, after the sixth year of the levy, in those instances where, in response to publication of the district's notice of intent to continue the levy, a sufficient petition in opposition thereto has been circulated and filed with the county auditor.
1. The board of county commissioners is required to canvass petitions seeking to remove the county seat; the board may not delegate the discretionary elements of the canvassing process. 2. Canvassing of signatures on a petition to remove the county seat by the board of county commissioners is action that must be taken at a properly called meeting as set forth in the Open Public Meetings Act. 3. There is no statutory limit on the amount of time that may elapse between the date that a petition to remove a county seat is signed and the date when the petition is submitted to the county legislative authority. 4. Signatures on a petition to remove the county seat may be withdrawn, and serial petitions adding signatures may be submitted, prior to the statutory deadline for filing any removal petition.
The contents of political advertising as regulated by statute; the placement of campaign signs to be used in partisan political races; and participation by state or local governmental employees in both partisan and nonpartisan political campaigns, including the holding of political party offices.
(1) The "next general election," for the purposes of RCW 53.12.120 as amended by § 1, chapter 219, Laws of 1982 (relating to the means of increasing the number of commissioners in certain port districts), will be the November, 1983 port district general election as provided for in RCW 29.13.020. (2) In connection with the election of additional port commissioners under RCW 53.12.120, supra, as amended, and RCW 53.12.130, a primary election will be in order, in accordance with RCW 53.12.055, in the event that more candidates should file for either of the two, proposed, additional positions.
(1) RCW 54.24.018 does not apply to PUD contractual obligations not involving issuance, by the district, of its own bonds.(2) If a PUD issues bonds in order to fund a prior contractual liability, the provisions of Wash. Const., Article VIII, § 6 (but not Article VII, § 2 or Article VIII, § 7) would be applicable.
1. When the commissioners of public utility districts draw new commissioner districts after a decessional census, they must include in their plan all the territory within any city which did not, at the time the public utility district was organized, own or operate all of the utilities which a public utility district is authorized to furnish; it is immaterial whether such a city of such description was later incorporated. 2. If the commissioner district boundaries submitted by a the board of a public utility district do not include all the territory of the public utility district in the districting plan, the public utility district board of commissioners has the authority, and the duty, to submit a new plan correcting this infirmity.
(1) A person who has been convicted of a felony under federal law, or under the law of another state, unless restored to his civil rights, should be regarded as disqualified from voting in the state of Washington under Article VI, § 3 of the state Constitution, unless the felony of which the person was convicted has a counterpart which is not a felony under the criminal laws of this state.(2) To the extent that a person who has been convicted of a crime under federal law or under the law of another state is disqualified from voting in the state of Washington, the governor of this state has the authority to restore such person's civil rights so as to enable him to vote in this state.
1.Whenever a general election is conducted in an even-numbered year, any party with a candidate drawing five percent of the vote for any partisan statewide state or federal office qualifies as a "major party"; this designation holds until an election occurs in an even-numbered year in which one or more statewide partisan offices appear on the ballot and the party in question fails to gain five percent of the vote for any of its statewide candidates.2.For a newly qualified major political party, the first election of precinct committee officers will occur at the next general election occurring in an even-numbered year.3.If a party is not organized pursuant chapter 29.42 RCW, but is newly qualified as a major political party, it may designate the governing body or officers who will perform the functions assigned by law to the county or state committees of a major political party.4.The provisions of RCW 29.45.010(4) restrict membership on a three-person election board to members of the parties whose candidates polled the greatest and the next greatest number of votes in a particular county.5.If the county auditor appoints clerks to expand the size of a precinct election board pursuant to RCW 29.45.020, and there are three or more major parties, appointments should be made in such a way as to make the total membership of the election board as nearly equal among the parties as possible.6.The ballot pick-up and delivery teams mentioned in RCW 29.54.037 should consist of one representative of each major political party which designates a representative for that purpose.