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How do you interpret the results above?
To the naked eye, the levy for Hospital District 1 passed with a supermajority, which should be enough to make it a yea per the resolution filed with the auditor’s office, but the criteria also includes the caveat “plus minimum turnout, etc.”
I asked Okanogan County Chief Deputy Auditor Jamie Groomes to interpret the results and it turns out… she can’t.
“I only administer the election, I cannot tell you if it passed or failed you will need to contact each district for that,” Groomes wrote in an email.
I contacted Lanie Johns, the clerk for the Okanogan County Board of Commissioners, who referred me back to the deputy auditor.
Groomes replied with a link to this document from 2019, which states, in part,
The County Auditor is only responsible for certifying the election results. The County Auditor does not determine if a particular measure has met the legal requirements for passage—that is the responsibility of the district.
Who are the contact people to know what is happening? I replied.
“https://okanogancounty.org/government/auditor/elections/district_resolutions.php#outer-7778 scroll down to Resolutions 2025 and select eac[h] pdf to see who the listed contact is,” came the reply.
A contact for two of the hospital levies in rural Oroville and Tonasket was Lanie Johns. The other was Okanogan County Commissioner Jon Neal.
Back to Johns I went.
“I will need to consult with Commissioner Neal on this as I have not had this question before. He may be in the office tomorrow so I will ask him then,” wrote Johns.
I emailed the contact from Three Rivers Hospital listed for Hospital District 1 to confirm yea or nea and was told she had left and my email was forwarded to their media spokesperson.
I wrote to Groomes again.
Is it this difficult for everyone? Doesn’t this seem problematic, from a democratic standpoint, when a common person can’t interpret the results?
“Yes it is always an issue most districts only run levy measures every 6 years… On our website under district resolutions you can find the Validation numbers and the RCWs will tell you what is need to pass the measure,” wrote Groomes.
It was 4:30 pm and my first email to Groomes, after having examined the election results, was at 9:33 am.
I don’t trust myself to find the RCWs and cross reference them to the validation numbers, which look like this. I’m not willing to risk an incorrect interpretation.
I sent a request to the mayor of Oroville to interpret his city’s levy results. His levy references RCW 84.52.069, which, if you can understand it, reads, in part, like this:
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a permanent tax levy under this section, or the initial imposition of a six-year or ten-year levy under this section, must be specifically authorized by a majority of at least three-fifths of the registered voters thereof approving a proposition authorizing the levies submitted at a general or special election, at which election the number of persons voting “yes” on the proposition must constitute three-fifths of a number equal to forty percent of the total number of voters voting in such taxing district at the last preceding general election when the number of registered voters voting on the proposition does not exceed forty percent of the total number of voters voting in such taxing district in the last preceding general election; or by a majority of at least three-fifths of the registered voters thereof voting on the proposition when the number of registered voters voting on the proposition exceeds forty percent of the total number of voters voting in such taxing district in the last preceding general election. The subsequent approval of a six-year or ten-year tax levy under this section must be specifically authorized by a majority of the registered voters thereof approving a proposition authorizing the levies submitted at a general or special election.
I ask Groomes one final question for the day.
How about after certification on Aug. 19? Will we know whether the levy passed?
“No the certification does not indicate if a measure passes or fails as I sent earlier our office only administers and certifies the number we received as well as the number of yes and no votes that were tabulated, we do not determine the outcome.”
