COUNTY COMMISSIONER:
A Different Kind of Election by Doug Mah, Doug Mah & Associates and the Thurston County Chamber’s Public Policy Advisor
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ugust 4th is this year’s primary election date. In addition to the high-profile races for the U.S. Congress and statewide races for positions such as Governor, Secretary of State, and Lands Commissioner, we also have local County Commissioner races on the primary ballot. It is important to note that the elections for County Commissioners are a bit different than other races.
Image courtesy of Thurston County.
district the candidate seeks to represent. Because terms are staggered, this year voters in commissioner districts 1 and 2 have a commissioner race on their primary ballot. In addition, only voters living in district 1 will have district 1 candidates on their ballot and only voters living in district 2 will have district 2 candidates on their ballot. So far so good: voters in each district vote for their local representative to the County Commission.
Now it gets interesting… in the general election, all the voters in the county The State Constitution makes the threewill vote on all the County Commission member commission form of government races. Even voters in district 3 will vote the standard form of government unless a for commissioners representing districts county adopts a home rule charter. Thurston 1 and 2. This is different than most County, like most counties in Washington, is representative or district offices. For one of the 37 “non-charter” counties. example, voters in any given legislative district will vote for their 2 representatives, Non-charter counties are divided into out of a total of 98 representatives to three commissioner districts and each the State House of Representatives. district contains approximately one-third The voters will never vote for all 98 State of the population based on the census. Representatives from across the state. All Thurston County voters reside in one of three districts and county commission So you see… county commissioners are: candidates must live in the district they 1) nominated by voters in their district seek to represent. Now here is where the and then; 2) elected by voters in the full primary election gets tricky. county. In many ways, this reflects the commissions’ dual role as: 1) the legislative By law, county commission candidates must body and thereby representing the first be nominated by their district. This district; and 2) the executive body and nomination occurs in the primary election thereby representing the whole county. when the top two vote-getters in the This odd duality is also present in how primary election advance or are nominated we currently elect Commissioners to the to the general election. This nomination Port of Olympia and the Thurston County is conferred only by the voters within the Public Utilities District. Weird, huh? thurstonchamber.com
But this will all change when Thurston County reached 400,000 people. State laws were amended (SHB 2887 for you policy geeks) so that beginning in 2022, any non-charter county with a population of 400,000 or more, must increase the number of commissioners to five. In addition, the county shall have both district nominations and district elections. Someday Thurston County will reach a population of 400,000 and then we will no longer have countywide elections for commissioners. This assumes we don’t adopt a home rule charter – but that is a topic for another issue of the VOICE. All this is to underscore how important the primary election is for our community. The outcome of the primary election for county commission races determines who is on the ballot for the entire county to elect. Further, this year two of three County Commissioner positions are open meaning that the voters can significantly alter who is leading the single largest political jurisdiction in the County, as measured by population, budget, and authority, in the county. Traditionally, the primary election has lower voter turnout compared to the general election. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss, and we must improve turnout in the primary. And to be honest we need to improve turnout in general elections as well. Public policy is made by those that participate. Voting is the easiest way to participate in our system of democracy and governing. Vote!
Thurston County Chamber VOICE
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August 2020
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