PORT ANGELES — North Olympic Peninsula election officials are in countdown mode for the Nov. 5 off-year election with 91 nonpartisan seats up for grabs and 101 days to go before the May 13-17 candidate filing period.
County officials have been contacting the myriad districts that contain eligible seats to ensure that election and district officials agree on who is up for election and whether, for example, resignations have occurred that election officials do not know about, Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand and Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge said this week.
There are 43 seats up for election in Clallam County in November, and 48 in Jefferson County.
There are no partisan seats up for election.
Rosand and Clallam County Elections Coordinator Shoona Radon discussed the filing period and upcoming off-year November election at the Port Angeles Business Association regular Tuesday breakfast meeting.
The statewide primary is Aug. 6.
If three or more candidates file for a position, their names will appear on the Aug. 6 primary ballot. If two candidates file, they automatically proceed to the general election and do not appear on the primary ballot.
There are 43 seats up for election.
“If any of you out there are interested, there’s the port, hospital, cities, school districts, fire districts, water districts, and parks and recreation,” Radon told about two dozen participants at the PABA breakfast.
Forks- and Sequim-area voters are now casting ballots in Feb. 12 special elections.
Sequim School District voters are being asked to approve a four-year, $5.8 million educational programs and operations levy and a one-time, $1.6 million transportation levy.
The Quillayute Valley School District has proposed a replacement four-year maintenance and operations levy that would collect $628,000 each year from 2014 through 2017, the same amount now annually being collected.
Preparing for and running elections is not just a once-a-year process that takes place in the fall, Rosand said in an interview.
The February election is the 106th election she has worked on.
“People don’t realize that it’s really a year-round occupation,” Rosand said.
Open positions in the November election include those held by city of Port Angeles City Council members Brad Collins, Max Mania, Patrick Downie and Brooke Nelson; Sequim City Council members Ted Miller, Dennis Smith and Genaveve Starr; Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center (county Park and Recreation District No. 1) board members Susan Sorensen and Robert Macaulay, city of Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon and Forks City Council members John Hillcar and Bruce Guckenberg; Port Angeles School Board members Sarah Methner and Cindy Kelly, and Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Paul McHugh.
The port position would entail countywide balloting if two candidates are on the Nov. 5 election.
Six county fire districts, five school districts, two park and recreation districts and two water districts have open seats.
“This is a typical odd-year election, where you have all the local jurisdictions up for election and about half of their boards,” Rosand said.
Radon said no one has yet inquired about running for any of the open seats.
A countywide election would cost about $130,000.
It’s not unusual to have 48 open seats in an off-year election, Eldridge said.
The Nov. 5 election will be countywide if Port of Port Townsend Commissioners Dave Thompson and Leif Erickson draw general election challengers.
Along with the two port positions, other open positions include those held by Jefferson Healthcare hospital commissioner Marc Mauney; Port Townsend City Council members Michelle Sandoval, Catharine Robinson and Mark Welch; Port Townsend School District School Board members Holley Carlson and Jennifer James-Wilson; Chimacum School District School Board members Ted Friedrich, Cammy Brown and Kevin Miller; Quilcene School District School Board members Gary Rae and Bonnie Hitt; and Brinnon School District School Board members Valerie Schindler and Wendy Ryan-Hogan.
There also are open seats on the boards of seven fire districts, three water districts and three cemetery districts.
No one has inquired yet about running for office, Eldridge said.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
