Committee advances bill allowing special districts to skip ballots in uncontested director districts

The Senate Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs voted to advance Senate Bill 172 after hearing testimony from South Metro Fire Rescue and the district's legal counsel. The bill would allow special districts that elect board members by director district to cancel sending ballots to voters in a director district when only one candidate files, aligning that practice with existing rules for at-large special districts.

Senator Carson, one of the bill sponsors, told the committee SB172 "pertains only to special districts that vote by individual director district" and said the measure was brought on behalf of South Metro Fire Rescue. Senator Sullivan, the co-sponsor, described the bill as "uncomplicated" and said it would prevent ballots from being mailed in uncontested director districts when winners can be declared under existing statutory deadlines.

Chief Mike Dillerfano of South Metro Fire Rescue testified the district switched to director-district elections because its jurisdiction is large and it wanted geographic representation. Dillerfano said the fire district covers about a half million people across roughly 287 square miles and that, under current practice, ballots still go to voters in uncontested director districts when at least one director district in the same election is contested. He said that practice "causes confusion among our voters" and that the district already uses mail ballots, websites and newsletters to notify residents of elections.

Catherine Wynne, outside counsel with the law firm Collins Cole Wynne & Ulmer, explained the statutory gap: the local government election code allows at-large special district elections to be canceled when, after Secretary of State deadlines, there are not more candidates than offices and no other ballot questions. The code also states no election may be canceled in part; that provision predates the 2021 option to vote by director district. Wynne said the bill clarifies that districts do not have to send ballots to electors in a director district with only one candidate while contested districts in the same election proceed normally. "We're seeking to align the election requirements of special districts that vote by director districts to the same requirements as special districts that vote at large," Wynne said.

Committee members asked whether savings from not mailing ballots would come from the special districts' budgets; Wynne confirmed districts pay for their own elections from general funds. The committee recorded no amendments. Senator Sullivan moved SB172 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the committee recorded the bill as approved that day by a final vote of 3 aye, 2 excused and none opposed. Senator Sullivan then asked that SB172 be placed on the consent calendar; the committee chair reported no objections and the motion passed.

The bill remains subject to further consideration in the Committee of the Whole and placement on the consent calendar.