Jurisdiction resources

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2010 General Information for Jurisdictions

• Primary and General Elections
• Special Elections and Resolution Deadlines
• Validation Summary

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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 and Resolution Deadlines

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 are as follows:

1. The second Tuesday in February
2. The fourth Tuesday in April
3. The third Tuesday in May for tax levies that failed previously in that calendar year and new bond issues
4. The third Tuesday of August or
5. The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

A resolution calling for a special election on a date set forth in (a) through (c) above must be presented to the county auditor at least 45 days prior to the election date. A resolution calling for a special election on a date set forth in (d) through (e) above must be presented to the county auditor at least 84 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.
Specific dates for 2010 can be found in the Jurisdiction Manual.

Validation Summary

Below is a link to the 2009 Validation Summary for jurisdictions. The summary contains information compiled from the November 4, 2008, General and special elections 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 4, 2008 , 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