Jurisdiction Resources

• Primary and General Elections
• Special Elections
• Resolution Deadlines
• Special Election Conducted Entirely By-Mail
• Validation Summary

Primary and General Elections

All state, county, city, town, and district general elections for the election of federal, state, legislative, judicial, county, city, town, and district officers, and for the submission to the voters of the state, county, city, town, or district of any measure for their adoption and approval or rejection, shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, in the year in which they may be called. A statewide general election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of each year.

However, the statewide general election held in odd-numbered years shall be limited to (a) city, town, and district general elections as provided for in RCW 29A.04.330, or as otherwise provided by law; (b) the election of federal officers for the remainder of any unexpired terms in the membership of either branch of the Congress of the United States; (c) the election of state and county officers for the remainder of any unexpired terms of offices created by or whose duties are described in Article II, section 15, Article III, sections 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23, and Article IV, sections 3 and 5 of the state Constitution and RCW 2.06.080; (d) the election of county officers in any county governed by a charter containing provisions calling for general county elections at this time; and (e) the approval or rejection of state measures, including proposed constitutional amendments, matters pertaining to any proposed constitutional convention, initiative measures and referendum measures proposed by the electorate, referendum bills, and any other matter provided by the legislature for submission to the electorate. (Reference 29A.04)

Special Elections

A county legislative authority may call a special county election by presenting a resolution to the county auditor prior to the proposed election date. The special elections dates for 2008 are as follows:

1. February 19, 2008
2. March 11, 2008
3. April 22, 2008
4. May 20, 2008
5. August 19, 2008
6. November 4, 2008

A resolution calling for a special election on a date set forth in (a) through (d) above must be presented to the county auditor at least fifty-two days prior to the election date. A resolution calling for a special election on a date set forth in (e) through (f) above must be presented to the county auditor at least eighty-four days prior to the election date.
In addition to the dates set forth above, a special election to validate an excess levy or bond issue may be called at any time to meet the needs resulting from fire, flood, earthquake, or other act of God. Such county special election shall be noticed and conducted in the manner provided by law.
In a presidential election year, if a presidential preference primary is conducted in February, March, April, or May under chapter 29A.56 RCW, the date on which a special election may be called by the county legislative authority under subsection (2) of this section during the month of that primary is the date of the presidential primary. (Reference 29A.04)

Resolution Deadlines

A resolution calling for a special election as noted above must be submitted by the following dates:

Special Election Conducted Entirely By-Mail

At any nonpartisan special election not being held in conjunction with a state primary or general election, the county, city, town, or district requesting the election pursuant to RCW *29A.04.320 or29A.04.330 may also request that the special election be conducted by mail ballot. The county auditor may honor the request or may determine that the election is not to be conducted by mail ballot. The decision of the county auditor in this regard is final. (Reference 29A.48.020)

Validation Summary

Below is a link to the 2008 Validation Summary jurisdictions. The summary contains information compiled from the November 6, 2007, General and Special Election and includes the following statistics for each jurisdiction:

• The total number of "Active Registered Voters" in the jurisdiction at the time of the election;
• The number of votes cast for the November 6, 2007, General Election;
• The minimum number needed (40 percent of votes cast) to validate a measure involving monetary issues (bond or levy); and
• The minimum number of "yes" votes needed to approve a measure (60 percent of the 40 percent of the number of voters who voted in the 2006 General Election).

"Active Registered Voters" refers to voters whose status is current with King County Elections. These are voters who are not on the inactive list due to the return, as non-deliverable, of official documents such as an absentee ballot, voter registration card, or jury notice.

Please note that if your jurisdiction extends to another county, you will need to add that county’s figures to get the total number needed for validation.

• Validation Summary