Drafter
Clerk 09/03/2013
Title
AN ORDINANCE related to annual precinct alterations and making proposed precinct alterations available to the public; and amending Ordinance 884, Section 1, as amended, and K.C.C. 1.12.010.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. RCW 29A.16.040 and K.C.C. 1.12.010 require that King County annually adjust precinct boundaries to reflect changes in municipal boundaries, to equalize the number of voters across precincts and to ease the administration of elections and for voter convenience.
2. RCW 29A.16.040 requires that counties adopt adjusted precinct boundaries by May 1 of each year.
3. K.C.C 1.12.010 requires that the proposed changes to precinct boundaries be transmitted to the council 30 days before the statutory deadline.
4. It is in the public interest that voters and the political parties have an opportunity to review the proposed adjustments to precinct boundaries before they are transmitted to the council, and that there be sufficient time for voters and the political parties to provide comments on the proposed changes.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 884, Section 1, and K.C.C. 1.12.010 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A. The voting precincts of King County are hereby established pursuant to state law and shall be as described in the attachments to this section which are hereby adopted, and which shall be retained officially on file in the department of elections ((division)).
B. An alphanumeric system of identifying voting precincts using a combination of letters and numbers shall be established throughout King County. Those precincts located in unincorporated areas of the county which presently have names shall retain them for public purposes in addition to the alphanumeric designation. Names shall be given only to those new precincts in unincorporated areas of the county which are created from portions of existing named precincts.
C. Precincts shall be divided, new precincts created and boundaries of existing precincts altered, as necessary, to implement precinct balancing and to accommodate the incorporation and annexations of unincorporated county areas into incorporated cities and for the convenience of voters.
D. In balancing precincts, voting precincts may contain as many as nine hundred active registered voters per individual precinct.
E. Proposed revisions to voting precincts, as provided for in this section, shall be submitted to the council for approval by ordinance no later than thirty days before the statutory deadline established in RCW 29A.16.040 of the applicable year. The proposal shall include a replacement for the attachments to this section. The department of elections shall make available to the public and to the political parties the proposed revisions of voting precincts for a review period of not less than ten days. All public comments received shall be documented and made available upon request. If the director of elections determines that there is good cause to do so, the director may suspend the ten-day public review period, however the director shall immediately notify the chair of the council by letter of the decision to suspend the ten-day review period and the good cause for doing so. Good cause exists, but is not limited to, circumstances involving an unusually large number of revisions to precinct boundaries, such as during years when new federal, state and local electoral districts are drawn or in years following a presidential election.
F. The department of elections ((division)) shall submit to the council concurrently with any proposed revisions to voting precincts, proposed revisions to the
King County district court electoral district boundaries which result from the proposed voting precinct revisions, as described in K.C.C. chapter 2.68.