Pierce County voters considered eight charter amendments Tuesday, all of them on election issues.
Amendment 1: Make the county sheriff a nonpartisan office limited to three consecutive four-year terms. Passing.
Amendment 2: Make the county assessor-treasurer a nonpartisan office limited to three consecutive four-year terms. Passing.
Amendment 3: Make the county auditor a nonpartisan office limited to three consecutive four-year terms. Passing.
Amendment 4: Postpone the implementation of instant-runoff voting until 2010. failing.
Amendment 5: Allow voters to rank up to three candidates for most county offices in order of preference. failing.
Amendment 6: Allow voters to rank more than three candidates when it becomes technically possible. PASSING.
Amendment 7: Specify that all candidates – regardless of party affiliation – must obtain 25 signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot. Passing.
Amendment 8: Authorize the County Council to impose a fee for filing referendums for the ballot. Passing.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.