S-4169.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6489

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Government Operations (originally sponsored by Senators McCaslin, Long, Hargrove, Fairley, Goings, Hale, Kline, Thibaudeau, Prince, Patterson, Winsley, Kohl, Oke and Haugen)

Read first time 02/03/98.

Specifying that there will be no primary for a district court position when there are no more than two candidates filed for the position.

    AN ACT Relating to district court elections; and amending RCW 29.21.015 and 3.34.050.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 29.21.015 and 1996 c 324 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) No primary may be held for any single position in any city, town, ((or)) district, or district court, as required by RCW 29.21.010, if, after the last day allowed for candidates to withdraw, there are no more than two candidates filed for the position.  The county auditor shall, as soon as possible, notify all the candidates so affected that the office for which they filed will not appear on the primary ballot.

    (2) No primary may be held for the office of commissioner of a park and recreation district or for the office of cemetery district commissioner.

    (3) Names of candidates for offices that do not appear on the primary ballot shall be printed upon the general election ballot in the manner specified by RCW 29.30.025.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 3.34.050 and 1989 c 227 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

    At the general election in November 1962 and quadrennially thereafter, there shall be elected by the voters of each district court district the number of judges authorized for the district by the district court districting plan.  Judges shall be elected for each district and electoral district, if any, by the qualified electors of the district in the same manner as judges of courts of record are elected, except as provided in chapter 29.21 RCW.  Not less than ten days before the time for filing declarations of candidacy for the election of judges for districts entitled to more than one judge, the county auditor shall designate each such office of district judge to be filled by a number, commencing with the number one and numbering the remaining offices consecutively.  At the time of the filing of the declaration of candidacy, each candidate shall designate by number which one, and only one, of the numbered offices for which he or she is a candidate and the name of the candidate shall appear on the ballot for only the numbered office for which the candidate filed a declaration of candidacy.

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