If you would like to participate in the election, it is shockingly easy. Haugen also says that she’s heard that other counties are “fearful of, quote-unquote, politicizing conservation districts.” Of course we wouldn’t want elected government positions to be in any way political. (In Oregon, the counties themselves pay for similar elections.) Those districts are concerned that being responsible for getting on a normal ballot would drain their budget. Some of that resistance has come from other conservation districts in other Washington counties, which aren't as well-funded as ours. “I thought it was a no-brainer when I went in, but then it was like, ‘Oh no, there’s so much resistance to change.’” “It’s like hitting my head against a mountain,” says Commissioner Kirsten Haugen, who’s been trying to put the elections on the main ballot since she was elected in 2019. Since it’s too expensive to print up a ballot for just this one weird election, the only way to know that it’s happening at all is by being the kind of person who is super-involved in county-level politics (a nerd), or by reading local “blogs,” short for “web log.” The League of Women Voters has a comprehensive report on how things got so messy. Currently, residential properties are charged about $12/year, or less than one hour's worth of minimum wage work.Ī 2002 law requires that the elections for this body, and this body only, are held in the first few months of the year. The district charges a small property tax across 34 different towns to fund programs that protect the regional environment. Okay, my pet, here’s what you need to know about this month’s King Conservation District election: The KCD is a weird county-wide authority that was created a few years after The Dust Bowl (yes, it’s THAT old). Wait, what’s that? You actually want to know who’s running, and how to cast a ballot? Ah, of course, I could tell just by looking at you that you’re a person of class and distinction when it comes to voting.
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