The Charter is like a constitution that describes how the county is governed and organized.
Five proposed amendments to the Snohomish County Charter are on the November 3 ballot.
The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County recommends voters reject all five propositions!
Vote
NO on each of these proposed amendments to the Snohomish County Charter:
- Proposition No. 1: Adoption of a Foundational Government Services Policy
- Proposition No. 2: Prioritize Funding of Budget Stabilization Funds
- Proposition No. 3: Converting All Elected County Offices to Non-partisan Offices
- Proposition No. 4: Increasing Public Access to County Financial Transparency
- Proposition No. 5: Requiring a 4/5 Supermajority Council Vote to Increase Taxes
Why reject all five proposed amendments?
- Flawed Charter Review Commission process lacked access and transparency.
- Public comment was not encouraged or meaningfully considered.
- The antidemocratic requirements of Propositions 2 and 5 would give veto power to a minority number of council members.
Our position, what we witnessed and our concerns
The League of Women Voters believes that democratic government depends upon informed and active participation in government and requires that governmental bodies protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings, and making public records accessible.
The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County (LWVSC) found that the 2026 Snohomish County Charter Review Commission’s process of soliciting and processing proposals for consideration failed to meet their stated task to ‘provide a forum for public input.’ Because the public was not given the opportunity to actively participate in the process to determine proposed changes to the Snohomish County Charter, LWVSC encourages Snohomish County voters to reject all five proposed charter amendments on the November 3 ballot.
LWVSC is particularly concerned with Proposition No. 5, which requires four of the five county council members (80%) to approve an increase in taxes, and Proposition No. 2, which contains a supermajority rule as one of its requirements. As written, these propositions would result in governmental decisions that are not representative and therefore antidemocratic because they would empower a minority number of council members representing a smaller number of citizens to block actions supported by a majority of council members representing the majority of Snohomish County citizens.