Candidates wanted: Some elected positions overseeing cemeteries, fire districts and other small local governments are unfilled

The Spokane County Elections Office is encouraging anyone interested in serving their community to file for one of the vacant political positions on their website before the 4 p.m. deadline Friday.

In total, there are eight positions, primarily in rural areas, that remain without a single candidate in the running. By state law, the Spokane County Elections Office is required to hold a special three-day filing period from Aug. 6 to 8, if there are still vacant positions after the May 9 deadline to file to be a candidate for elective office.

These positions include a city council position for the town of Latah, commissioner positions for Spokane County Fire Districts 2 and 12 and water district commissioner positions for the Vel-view, Hangman Hills, and Strathview districts. The Spangle Cemetery District and Waverly Cemetery District also are looking for commissioners to serve.

Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton said it’s not uncommon for positions like these to remain open for extended periods . Actually, she said, if the elections office only has 15 vacant positions left, then that’s a little lower than normal.

“Often, positions at the end of the regular filing week in May are still open that no one has filed for,” Dalton said. “These are small districts, usually special purpose districts, like a cemetery district, where there’s not a lot of people that live in the district anyway and not a lot of people even know that there’s an elected board that manages the district, and so there may not be a lot of interest in the general public to serve on that kind of a board.”

Dalton, who has been in office for the past 27 years, said there were some years during her tenure where as many as 30 positions remained open without a candidate.

If no one puts their name in the running for any of the above-mentioned positions, then a lapsed election will occur. This essentially means that the incumbent will continue to serve in the same position, since no one wanted to step up to the plate. If the incumbent decides to resign and there’s still no one to fill that spot, then different categories of government, whether it’s a city, fire district, cemetery district or a water district, have their own way of deciding what will happen to said position.

Mike McLaughlin has been the Spokane County elections manager since 2001. Similar to Dalton, he’s seen cases, like in Fire District 2, where the same people get the job over and over again.

“This (lack of people running for office) has probably been pretty normal for the last 15 years,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said that the last time a municipal election of this size occurred, in 2023, the list of open positions was pretty similar to what we see today.

Dalton believes many potential candidates may choose to not run because the task of filing with the Public Disclosure Commission can feel daunting. This process includes a declaration of funds raised and other expenditures correlated to running a campaign. Luckily, for smaller districts, like most of the positions still vacant, the process of filing with the Public Disclosure Commission is simpler.

With the deadline approaching, Dalton and McLaughlin urge interested folks who want to serve their community to apply online or physically at the Spokane County Elections Office.

“In many of these smaller districts, like the water districts and the cemetery districts and even the fire districts, it’s really about providing service to the people who live in the district, and it’s less about policy,” Dalton said. “These are not legislative positions. These are positions where you’re there providing direct service to the people in that district, whether that’s taking care of the cemetery where people may have family buried, or the water district, where you’re trying to make sure that people can get the water that they need for their house, for their lawns, for their business; or in a fire district where you’re trying to make sure that you’re able to deliver emergency medical services and fire protection and fire education to the people who live in your district.”