Primary ballots arriving this week

Published 2:10 pm Monday, July 15, 2024

PACIFIC COUNTY — Ballots are set to arrive in mailboxes later this week ahead of Washington’s August primary election that will feature a mix of county, legislative, judicial, state and federal races, as well as a local ballot measure.

The Pacific County Auditor’s Office will mail out ballots for the Aug. 6 primary this week, coinciding with the state’s 18-day voting period that begins July 19 and lasts through Election Day.

Completed ballots can be returned to official drop boxes anytime until 8 p.m. on Aug. 6 or be returned via mail as long as they are postmarked by election day. The U.S. Postal Service recommends mailing completed ballots back at least a week before Election Day to be included in the initial batch of results reported on the night of the election. Ballot postage is prepaid by the Washington state government.

On the peninsula, 24-hour drop boxes are located at the county annex building at 7013 Sandridge Rd. and at the Ocean Park Senior Center at 21603 O Lane. The drop box in Chinook is located at the community center at 810 Highway 101, and at the Washington State Patrol office at 797 State Route 4 in Naselle.

The deadline for new online or mail voter registrations, and for transfers or updates to an existing voter registration, is July 29. To register to vote online, go to www.voter.votewa.gov. To register by mail, print a registration form from www.voter.votewa.gov or contact the county auditor’s office at 360-875-9317.

The last day to register to vote in-person is 8 p.m. on Aug. 6. To register in-person, visit the county auditor’s office at 300 Memorial Drive in South Bend.

For more information about the primary election, visit co.pacific.wa.us/auditor/elections.htm or call the Pacific County Auditor’s Office at 360-875-9317.

County commissioner

Three candidates are vying for the peninsula-based seat on the Pacific County Commission, and two will advance from the primary to this fall’s general election. Only voters residing in that commissioner district, District No. 2, will vote in the primary. The district spans from the north end of the peninsula down through the city of Long Beach.

Incumbent commissioner David Tobin, a Democrat who was appointed to the seat in January 2023 and won election later that year to serve out the remainder of the term, filed this spring to run for a full four-year term of his own. He is joined on the ballot by a pair of challengers: Rita Hall, running as a Republican, and David Anderson, running as an independent.

To learn more about the county commissioner candidates, see the related questionnaires running in the July 17 issue of the Observer.

Levy measure

The ballots of most peninsula voters will include a measure being proposed by Pacific County Fire District No. 1 that, if approved, would lift the fire district’s levy lid.

Fire district commissioners this spring passed a resolution to place a measure on the primary ballot that would increase the fire district’s regular property tax levy from its current $0.85 to $1.15 per $1,000 of assessed value, with collections beginning in 2025. The measure must be approved by a simple majority of participating voters residing within the fire district, which consists of the peninsula minus those residing within Long Beach and Ilwaco city limits.

For a property valued at $400,000, the 30-cent increase being proposed by the fire district would cost that owner about $120 more annually — or $10 per month. PCFD1’s levy rate has gradually decreased in recent years, due to higher property valuations and new homes being constructed on the peninsula; in 2023, the levy rate was $0.96 per $1,000.

The funds generated by increasing the levy rate, according to PCFD1 Fire Chief Jacob Brundage, would enable the fire district to hire four new firefighters-EMTs-paramedics and provide needed equipment and resources to support a third, 24/7-staffed fire station on the peninsula in Surfside utilizing property already owned by the district. There are currently staffed stations in both Ocean Park and Seaview, and the fire district presently employs 20 full-time firefighters.

The request comes after PCFD1’s call volume has increased by approximately 20% since 2018, and since that time the fire district has increased staffing by one additional firefighter per shift. But, according to Brundage, the increased call volume, population growth and home building in recent years has increased vulnerabilities in PCFD1’s ability to maintain response times and resiliency throughout the peninsula.