close

Nomination process begins for government study commission

4 min read
article image -

Today is the first day for Washington County residents to begin circulating nomination papers in order to get on the Nov. 2 ballot to potentially serve on the proposed government study commission.

The process is likely new to many people who have never run for political office before but want the chance to serve on the non-partisan, 11-member committee that could review the county’s form of government.

The wheels were set in motion Thursday when the Washington County commissioners voted 2-1 to place the government study referendum on the ballots. Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan and Commissioner Larry Maggi voted in favor of the ballot question, while Commissioner Nick Sherman voted against it.

With its passage during the special meeting, people now have three weeks to circulate their nomination papers to get on the government study commission, which is open to all registered voters in Washington County, whether they’re average citizens or elected leaders.

The candidate affidavit, financial disclosure information, template for the nomination papers and instructions on how to properly obtain the 200 signatures required to be placed on the ballot have been uploaded on Washington County’s elections website at www.co.washington.pa.us/elections. An informational packet filled with all the documents and instructions also can be found at the elections office on the second floor of Courthouse Square at 100 W. Beau St. in Washington. Elections workers began passing out those packets to potential candidates on Friday, although people couldn’t begin circulating them in the community until today.

“We tried to make (the directions) as easy as we could for them,” elections Director Melanie Ostrander said of the information packet for candidates.

Ostrander added that the nomination papers must be printed front and back side on taller legal-sized paper. The correct-sized papers are included in the informational package available at the elections office.

Candidates and their volunteers can circulate the nomination papers until Aug. 24, when the paperwork is required to be submitted to the county elections office by 4:30 p.m. on that date. The only requirement for a candidate is that he or she must be a registered voter in Washington County, along with anyone who circulates the paperwork on the nominee’s behalf.

Candidates can get signatures from any registered voter regardless of the person’s party affiliation. A caveat is that one person can only sign for 11 potential nominees, meaning they could sign one paper filled with 11 candidates on it, or they could sign 11 different papers if each one lists just one candidate.

While a minimum of 200 signatures are required to get on the ballot, candidates are encouraged to get more than that number in case a person’s nomination papers are challenged, which often happens when there are defects or flaws with how they were collected or who signed it. Each nomination paper must be filled out correctly and notarized.

Up to 11 candidates can include their names on one nomination paper to garner enough signatures, allowing them to run as a political slate. However, the candidates won’t necessarily appear together as a political block since the casting of lots will be held at noon Aug. 30 to draw names to determine ballot positions. A candidate’s political affiliation will not be included on the ballot.

The nomination papers also must include three to five people to serve on a “vacancy committee” to choose a new candidate if that person withdraws from the election.

“Those people would have the power to choose a substitute,” Ostrander said, if a candidate decided not to run after being nominated.

Of course, all of this will be moot if voters reject the formation of the government study commission during the Nov. 2 election.

But if the formation of the board is approved by a majority of voters, the 11 people who receive the most votes will then take their seat on the committee and spend nine months reviewing the mechanisms of county government. At the end of the term, the board could then suggest changes – or none at all – and send their recommendations for the county’s voters to either approve or reject at a future election.

But there’s still a long political road still to travel even to get there, with the process only in its infancy stages with three months to go until Election Day.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today