SB 171 on moving elections has now passed out of committee. It provides for nonpartisan elections for cities and school boards in November of odd-numbered years. As we expressed earlier, although this bill is an improvement over the original, it doesn’t solve any problems, still has school board primaries in August, when many families with school-aged children are on vacation, and has school board members take office in January in the middle of the school year. We also remain concerned that this bill will just be the first step in accomplishing the goals of the original bill. In fact, during the committee meeting, Sen. Wagle and Sen. Fitzgerald said the discussion on partisanship should continue. We believe this bill is not a compromise but constitutes the first step in accomplishing their goal of putting these elections in the fall of even years and making them partisan. We expect to see motions to amend this bill on the Senate floor despite being almost defeated today.

The bill originally was voted down, but then there was a motion to reconsider, and Sen. Wolf changed her vote. On that vote, Senators Arpke, Fitzgerald, Wagle, Holmes and Wolf voted in favor of the bill, and Senators Love, O’Donnell, Faust-Goudeau, and Haley opposed. Thank you Senators Love, O’Donnell, Faust-Goudeau and Haley. Are Senators Arpke, Fitzgerald, Wagle and Holmes representing their communities?