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The Washington State Conservation Commission (SCC) recently took action on several items relating to conservation district elections, including:
- The Commission adopted changes to the Washington Administrative Code for CD elections, including a change that eliminates the ability to cancel an election when there’s only one candidate.
- They adopted guidance for districts to consider on how to conduct an election in the era of COVID.
- There’s an election training webinar coming up on October 2.
Please keep reading for more details on each of these items.
Conservation Commission adopts changes to conservation district elections policy and procedure
The SCC adopted changes to conservation district election policy and procedure in Chapter 135-110 of the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) and the Election and Appointment Guide at their September 17, 2020 meeting. The changes will be in effect for the 2020-2021 election season.
The adopted changes and new Election and Appointment Guide contain procedures needed for the election and appointment of conservation district supervisors, and should be used by conservation districts, candidates, and others.
Significant changes to WAC Chapter 135-110 include:
- Eliminating the automatic reelection of the incumbent provision in WAC 135-110-370
- Removing the distinction between absentee, mail-in, or in-person ballots
- Consolidating candidate types into just two – those who will appear on the ballot and those who will not
- Eliminating the automatic disqualification of write-in candidates when a ballot contains a candidate whose name is pre-printed on the ballot
- Eliminating nominators and the nominating petition
- Creating a distinction between candidate required and optional information
- Aligning the CD election retention schedule with the Secretary of State’s schedule
- Setting deadlines for certain notices, reporting, and form submittal
- Requiring CD staff to be trained in conducting elections, as per the adopted EQAP
- Explicitly allowing election supervisor duties to be delegated to others
- Requiring poll sites to be open for a minimum of 4 consecutive hours
- Setting out the procedure and effect of candidate withdraw
- Clarifying who can serve as polling officers
- Clarifying when electronic signatures and filing can be used
- Setting out the procedure for complaining about or challenging an election
- Setting out the procedure for filling vacancies in elected positions
The Election and Appointment Manual has been renamed the Election and Appointment Guide, and a number of significant changes have been made to it, including:
- Entirely new format to improve readability
- Language that directly cites WAC Chapter 135-110 has been removed. Appendices, sample notices, draft policies, and checklists were kept
- A sample notice for filling mid-term appointed positions has been added
- The sample narrative for providing provisional ballots to voters has been put in Appendix G.
Both the changes to WAC Chapter 135-110 and the Election and Appointment Guide will be posted to the Commission’s Election Administrator web page for your use.
These changes and more will be covered during the training described below.
Conservation District Election and Appointment Training Webinar
When
The Conservation Commission (Commission) election and appointment training webinar will be held on Friday, October 2, 2020, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm.
The webinar will be recorded and posted to the Commission’s Election Administrator page for viewing at your convenience if the appropriate conservation district staff cannot attend the training webinar.
Who
New this year: the training is required for at least one person at each conservation district, as per the policy the Commission adopted in December 2019.
Typically, the person at the conservation district that should receive this training is the designated election supervisor. The Commission encourages the election supervisor alternate to also receive the training, in the event that the election supervisor is unavailable to administer the election.
How
Register for Conservation District Election and Appointment Training on Oct 2.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
For more information, or questions about elections in general, please contact Bill Eller at 509-385-7512 or beller@scc.wa.gov.
CD elections and COVID-19
During their September 17, 2020 regular meeting, Conservation Commission members passed a motion adopting two recommendations related to conservation district elections during the upcoming election season in 2020-2021. Those two recommendation are:
- All conservation districts consider taking the necessary steps to protect voters, candidates, CD staff and polling workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and
- Conservation districts review and consider the actions identified by Commission staff in the memo to the Commission dated September 17, 2020 and titled “Conservation District Elections and the COVID-19 Pandemic” as they plan for their elections.
View the Conservation District Elections and the COVID-19 Pandemic memo and associated actions for consideration.
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