Washington State local elections, 2008

King County

Charter amendments

Eight proposed charter amendments appeared on the ballot for King County voters. The amendments proposed changes to the King County Charter. Two of the proposed amendments (Charter Amendments 1 and 8) were placed on the ballot through the citizen initiative process. Six of the amendments (Charter Amendments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) were placed on the ballot by a vote of the King County Council.

All proposed amendments passed with the exception of Charter Amendment 7.

King County Charter Amendment 1

• Question: Shall the King County Charter be amended to provide that the position of county director of elections be created as a nonpartisan elected office?"
• Placed on ballot by: Collection of signatures.

King County Charter Amendment 1
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	448,751	56.32
No	348,057	43.68
Total votes		0

King County Charter Amendment 2

• Question: "Shall Section 840 of the King County Charter be amended to add disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression to the prohibited grounds for discrimination in county employment and county contracting, and to limit the prohibition against discrimination in county contracting to contracts with nongovernmental entities, as provided in Ordinance No. 16204?"
• Placed on ballot by: Citizen initiative.

King County Charter Amendment 2
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	580,551	71.31
No	233,595	28.69
Total votes		0

King County Charter Amendment 3

• Questions: "Shall Sections 230.10, 270.20 and 270.30 of the King County Charter be amended to reduce the number of county council members on regional committees, establish a vice chair position on regional committees, authorize the regional policy committee to adopt its own work program, add authority for regional committees to initiate legislation, modify regional committee procedures, and authorize the addition of nonvoting members to the water quality committee, as provided in Ordinance No. 16205?"
• Placed on ballot by: King County Council.

King County Charter Amendment 3
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	489,596	66.72
No	244,183	33.28
Total votes		0

King County County Charter Amendment 4

• Question: "Shall Section 630 of the King County Charter be amended to authorize the county council to establish additional qualifications for separately elected officials who head executive departments, as provided in Ordinance No. 16206?"
• Placed on ballot by: King County Council.

King County Charter Amendment 4
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	375,385	50.64
No	365,908	49.36
Total votes		0

King County Charter Amendment 5

• Question: "Shall the King County Charter be amended to require the establishment of a forecast council and an office of economic and financial analysis, as provided in Ordinance No. 16207?"
• Placed on ballot by: King County Council.

King County Charter Amendment 5
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	477,187	64.36
No	264,236	35.64
Total votes		0

King County Charter Amendment 6

• Question: "Shall Sections 410 and 420 of the King County Charter be amended to impose deadlines that are twenty days earlier than existing deadlines for county agencies to submit budget information to the county executive and for the county executive to present a proposed budget to the county council, as provided in Ordinance No. 16208?"
• Placed on ballot by: King County Council.

King County Charter Amendment 6
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	590,203	78.44
No	162,196	21.56
Total votes		0

King County Charter Amendment 7

• Placed on ballot by: King County Council.
• Question: "Shall King County Charter Section 800 be amended to establish a new process for citizens to directly propose amendments to the King County Charter and to increase the signature threshold for citizen-initiated charter amendments from 10% to 20% of the votes cast in the last election for county executive, as provided in Ordinance No. 16221?"

The ballot question initially was set to ask: "Shall King County Charter Section 800 be amended to establish a new process for citizens to directly propose amendments to the King County Charter and to set the signature threshold for citizen-initiated charter amendments at twenty percent of votes cast in the last election for county executive, as provided in Ordinance No. 16221?" However, Tim Eyman won a lawsuit over the ballot title, stating that it was misleading: King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick ordered that the wording be changed to explain clearly that the measure would increase the number of signatures needed to place future citizen-initiated amendments to the King County Charter on the ballot from 10 percent to 20 percent.

King County Charter Amendment 7
Choice	Votes	%
No	406,627	54.51
Yes	339,337	45.49
Total votes		0

King County Charter Amendment 8

• Questions: "Shall the King County Charter be amended to make the offices of King county executive, King county assessor and King county council nonpartisan, and to establish the nonpartisan selection of districting committee members?"
• Placed on ballot by: Citizen initiative.

King County Charter Amendment 8
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	421,215	55.84
No	333,119	44.16
Total votes		0

King County External links

• King County elections board guide to the charter amendments
• King County staff report on Amendments 2-7

Pierce County

County level elections in Pierce County will use Ranked Choice Voting for the first time in 2008.

County Charter Amendment 1

Charter Amendment 1 called for a streamlined process for appointing citizens to Boards and Commissions.
Explanatory Statement: The Pierce County Council has passed Ordinance No. 2008-55s, proposing an amendment to the Pierce County Charter concerning appointment and confirmations of members to Boards and Commissions. If passed, it would require: the Executive must appoint from a list of three candidates supplied by the Councilmember filling district-specific appointments only if the list of three names has been supplied within thirty days of the vacancy to be filled; the Executive must transmit appointments to the Council within sixty days of a vacancy; and, the Council would have the authority to appoint and confirm members to boards and commissions when filling vacancies of ninety days or more.
The question on the ballot will be, "Should Charter Amendment No. 1 be approved?"

Skagit County

Pud Proposition 1

PUD Proposition 1 ― a resolution of the Commissioners of Public Utility District No.1 of Skagit County, Washington ― asks voters to approve or reject PUD authority to “construct or acquire electric facilities for the generation, transmission or distribution of electric power.”

Stevens County

Stevens County Commissioner District No. 1

• Larry Guenther (prefers Republican Party)
• Lela J. Taylor (prefers Democratic Party)

Stevens County Commissioner District No. 3

• Malcolm R Friedman (prefers Republican Party)
• Erica Breien [1] (prefers Republican Party)

Stevens County PUD Commissioner District 2

• K.O. (Ken) Rosenberg
• Howie Kubik

Wahkiakum County

Wahkiakum County Assessor
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Bill Coons	1,264	62.64
	Republican	Sulema Zerr	754	37.36

Wahkiakum County Auditor
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Diane L. Tischer	1,654	100

Wahkiakum County Clerk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kay M. Holland	1,643	100

Wahkiakum County Commissioner #3
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Blair H. Brady	1,085	54.33
style="background-color: Template:Independent (candidate)/meta/color; width: 2px;" |	[[Independent (candidate)|Template:Independent (candidate)/meta/shortname]]	Lori Scott	912	45.67

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|- class="vcard" ! style="background-color: Template:Democratic/meta/color; width: 2px;" | | class="org" style="width: 130px" | [[Democratic|Template:Democratic/meta/shortname]] | class="fn" | Dan Bigelow | style="text-align:right;" | 1,161 | style="text-align:right;" | 60.59 |-

|- class="vcard" ! style="background-color: #DDDDDD; width: 2px;" | | class="org" style="width: 130px" | Nonpartisan | class="fn" | Dennis Gordon | style="text-align:right;" | 755 | style="text-align:right;" | 39.41 |-

|}

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|- class="vcard" ! style="background-color: Template:Independent (candidate)/meta/color; width: 2px;" | | class="org" style="width: 130px" | [[Independent (candidate)|Template:Independent (candidate)/meta/shortname]] | class="fn" | Jon Dearmore | style="text-align:right;" | 1,683 | style="text-align:right;" | 84.87 |-

|- class="vcard" ! style="background-color: Template:Independent (candidate)/meta/color; width: 2px;" | | class="org" style="width: 130px" | [[Independent (candidate)|Template:Independent (candidate)/meta/shortname]] | class="fn" | Troy E. Norris | style="text-align:right;" | 300 | style="text-align:right;" | 15.13 |-

|}

Wahkiakum County Treasurer
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Paula Holloway	1,602	100

Town of Cathlamet Councilman #1
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Steven McNicholas		110	62.86%
Dale Jacobson (write-in)		65	37.14%

Town of Cathlamet Councilman #2
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Wally Wright		148	100%

Town of Cathlamet Councilman #3
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Richard (Dick) Swart (write-in)		112	65.5%
Angie Pugh		59	34.5%

Port District 1 Commission #2
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Larry Bonds		549	100%

Port District 1 Commission #3
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Lori Scott		392	53.55%
Carlton E. Appelo		340	46.45%

Fire Protection District 1 Commissioner #2
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Jim Jespersen		246	100%

Fire Protection District 3 Commissioner #2
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Dennis Nagasawa		272	100%

Fire Protection District 4 Commissioner #2
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Jim McCoy		369	100%

Cemetery District 1 Commissioner #1
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Geoffrey Morse		724	100%

Walla Walla County

Walla Walla County Commissioner District 1
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Gregg Loney		18,953	97.87%

Walla Walla County Commissioner District 2
Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Perry Dozier		11,984	58.02%
Sheryl Cox		8,413	40.73%

Proposition No. 1 Prescott Joint Park & Recreation District One Year Maintenance & Operation Excess Levy
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	202	61.21
No	128	38.79
Total votes		0

See also

• King County elections board guide to the charter amendments
• King County staff report on Amendments 2-7