Section 4.10 Election Procedures
The nominating primaries and elections of the Councilmembers, Executive, and Prosecuting Attorney shall be conducted in accordance with general law governing the election of partisan county officers. [Charter Section 4.10 per Amendment No. 1 (2006)]*
The elections of all County officials, including judges and the Prosecuting Attorney, shall be conducted according to the state election method. (Amendment No. 39 proposed by Ordinance No. 2009-1, Approved November 3, 2009; Amendment No. 28 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-18, No. 29 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-50, No. 30 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-51, and No. 33 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-63s3, Approved November 6, 2007; Amendment Nos. 19 and 21 Approved November 7, 2006; Originally Adopted November 4, 1980)
AMENDMENT NO. 28 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-18, NO. 29 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-50, NO. 30 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-51, and NO. 33 proposed by Ordinance No. 2007-63s3, Approved November 6, 2007:
The nominating primaries and elections of the Councilmembers, Executive, and Prosecuting Attorney shall be conducted in accordance with general law governing the election of partisan county officers. [Charter Section 4.10 per Amendment No. 1 (2006)]*
The elections of all County officials, except judges and the Prosecuting Attorney, shall be conducted using instant runoff voting. The County Auditor shall implement by July 2008 an instant runoff voting protocol according to these guidelines:
(1) The ballot shall allow voters to rank a number of choices in order of preference equal to the total number of candidates for each office; however, if the voting system, vote tabulation system, or similar or related equipment used by the County cannot feasibly accommodate choices equal to the total number of candidates running for each office, then the Auditor may limit the number of choices a voter may rank to no fewer than three.
(2) The instant runoff shall be conducted in rounds. In each round, each voter's ballot shall count as a single vote for whichever continuing candidate the voter has ranked highest. The candidate or candidates whose combined vote totals are less than the next lowest candidate after each round shall be eliminated and their votes redistributed. This process of eliminating candidates and transferring their votes to the next-ranked continuing candidates shall be repeated until a candidate receives a majority (fifty percent plus one) of the votes from the continuing ballots. The candidate receiving the majority (fifty percent plus one) of votes from the continuing ballots will be deemed elected at the time of certification.
(3) The County Council may adopt additional regulations consistent with this subsection and RCW 29.A.53 (excluding the expiration dates) to implement these standards.
*Code Revisor's Note: Section 4.10 was identically amended by Charter Amendment Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and separately amended by Charter Amendment No. 6, both without reference to the other, all approved by the Pierce County voters in the November 2007 General Election. Both amended versions are published here.
*AMENDMENT NOS. 19 and 21 Approved November 7, 2006:
The nominating primaries and elections of the Councilmembers, Executive, Assessor-Treasurer, Sheriff and Prosecuting Attorney shall be conducted in accordance with general law governing the election of partisan county officers. [Charter Section 4.10 per Amendment No. 1 (2006)]*
The elections of all County officials, except judges and the Prosecuting Attorney, shall be conducted using instant runoff voting. The County Auditor shall implement by July 2008 an instant runoff voting protocol according to these guidelines:
(1) The ballot shall give voters the option of ranking candidates in order of preference.
(2) The instant runoff shall be conducted in rounds. In each round, each voter's ballot shall count as a single vote for whichever continuing candidate the voter has ranked highest. The candidate with the fewest votes after each round shall be eliminated until only two candidates remain, with the candidate then receiving the greatest number of votes being elected.
(3) The County Council may adopt additional regulations consistent with this subsection and RCW 29.A.53 (excluding the expiration dates) to implement these standards. [Charter Section 4.10 per Amendment No. 3 (2006)]*
*Code Revisor's Note: Section 4.10 was separately amended by Charter Amendment No. 1 and Charter Amendment No. 3, each without reference to the other, both approved by the Pierce County voters in the November 2006 General Election. Both amended versions are published here.
ORIGINAL TEXT Adopted November 4, 1980:
The nominating primaries and elections of the Council members, Executive, Assessor-Treasurer, and Prosecuting Attorney, shall be conducted in accordance with general law governing the election of partisan county officers.