Vacancies in partisan office

AN ACT Relating to vacancies in partisan elective offices; 1
amending RCW 36.16.110 and 42.12.040; and providing a contingent 2
effective date. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 36.16.110 and 2010 c 207 s 2 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
(1) The county legislative authority in each county shall, at its 7
next regular or special meeting after being appraised of any vacancy 8
in any county, township, precinct, or road district office of the 9
county, fill the vacancy by the appointment of some person qualified 10
to hold such office, and the officers thus appointed shall hold 11
office until the next general election, and until their successors 12
are elected and qualified. 13
(2) If a vacancy occurs in a partisan county office after the 14
general election in a year that the position appears on the ballot 15
and before the start of the next term, the term of the successor 16
((who is of the same party as the incumbent )) may commence once he or 17
she has qualified as defined in RCW 29A.04.133 and shall continue 18
through the term for which he or she was elected. If the incumbent 19
declared a political party preference at the time they were elected 20
H-2540.1
HOUSE BILL 2460
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Rude, Abell, Volz, and Walen
Read first time 01/14/26. Referred to Committee on State Government
& Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2460
to the partisan county office, the successor appointed pursuant to 1
this section must be from the same political party as the incumbent.2
(3) If a vacancy occurs in a nonpartisan county board of 3
commissioners elective office or nonpartisan county council elective 4
office, the person appointed to fill the vacancy must be from the 5
same legislative district, county, or county commissioner or council 6
district as the county elective officer whose office was vacated, and 7
must be one of three persons who must be nominated by the nonpartisan 8
executive or nonpartisan chair of the board of commissioners for the 9
county. In case a majority of the members of the county legislative 10
authority do not agree upon the appointment within sixty days after 11
the vacancy occurs, the governor shall within thirty days thereafter, 12
and from the list of nominees provided for in this section, appoint 13
someone to fill the vacancy. 14
(4) If a vacancy occurs in a nonpartisan county board of 15
commissioners elective office or nonpartisan county council elective 16
office after the general election in a year that the position appears 17
on the ballot and before the start of the next term, the term of the 18
successor may commence once he or she has qualified as defined in RCW 19
29A.04.133 and shall continue through the term for which he or she 20
was elected. 21
Sec. 2. RCW 42.12.040 and 2013 c 11 s 88 are each amended to 22
read as follows: 23
(1) If a vacancy occurs in any partisan elective office in the 24
executive or legislative branches of state government or in any 25
partisan county elective office before the first day of the regular 26
filing period, the position must be open for filing during the 27
regular filing period as provided in RCW 29A.24.171 and a successor 28
shall be elected at the general election. Except during the last year 29
of the term of office, if such a vacancy occurs on or after the first 30
day of the regular filing period, the election of the successor shall 31
occur at the next succeeding general election as provided in RCW 32
29A.24.171. The elected successor shall hold office for the remainder 33
of the unexpired term. This section shall not apply to any vacancy 34
occurring in a charter county which has charter provisions 35
inconsistent with this section. 36
(2) If a vacancy occurs in any legislative office or in any 37
partisan county office after the general election in a year that the 38
position appears on the ballot and before the start of the next term, 39
p. 2 HB 2460
the term of the successor ((who is of the same party as the 1
incumbent)) may commence once he or she has qualified as defined in 2
RCW 29A.04.133 and shall continue through the term for which he or 3
she was elected. If the incumbent declared a political party 4
preference at the time they were elected to the legislative office or 5
partisan county office, the successor appointed pursuant to this 6
section must be from the same political party as the incumbent.7
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. This act takes effect January 1, 2027, if 8
the proposed amendment to Article II, section 15 of the state 9
Constitution, HJR . . . (H-2541), is validly submitted to and is 10
approved and ratified by the voters at a general election held in 11
November 2026. If the proposed amendment is not approved and 12
ratified, this act is void in its entirety.13
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p. 3 HB 2460