Voters will be asked if change is needed in electing King County officials

Should King County change its 39-year history of choosing the county executive, County Council and assessor through partisan elections?

Voters will take a first — if not final — crack at answering that question in Tuesday's primary.

But, as with all charter amendments proposed by initiative, reaching a final decision will be a bit convoluted.

Two questions are on the primary ballot.

First, voters will be asked whether they want to put either of two competing charter amendments on the Nov. 4 ballot. Then they will be asked which amendment they would prefer to vote on in November.

Initiative 26, which calls for nonpartisan elections, garnered enough citizen signatures to qualify for the ballot, but the Metropolitan King County Council voted to let citizens choose between I-26 and the council's own proposal. All five council Democrats voted for the council alternative; all four Republicans against it.

I-26, promoted by Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer, R-Federal Way, and his chief of staff, Joe Fain, would make elections and council-redistricting committees nonpartisan.

The County Council's proposal would make elections officially nonpartisan but would allow candidates to express their party preference on the ballot. It also would make districting commissions nonpartisan.

Voters are getting their first chance to weigh in on the issue. Before I-26, the County Council rejected recommendations over the years from the Municipal League of King County, the League of Women Voters and the 1997 Charter Review Commission to let citizens decide whether elections should be made nonpartisan.

Two former governors, Republican Dan Evans and Democrat Booth Gardner, have endorsed I-26. Another former governor and co-chairman of the 2008 Charter Review Commission, Democrat Mike Lowry, supports the County Council's proposal.

Lowry said voters should know the candidates' party preferences because they are indicators of political philosophy. "I do not believe that it is a problem that needs to be solved. I actually think county government is working quite well," Lowry said.

Fain, who chairs the political committee promoting I-26, said the campaign has funded mailings and recorded phone calls to get out the message that I-26 is "the authentic choice."

The committee, Citizens for Independent Government, has reported spending $343,944 — $243,000 of it from former Western Wireless CEO and frequent Republican donor John Stanton and his wife, Theresa Gillespie — on the petition drive and election campaign.

No committee has been organized to promote the County Council's alternative.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com