Modification of County Commissioner Elections

Currently, in a county with a population of 70,000 or more, the board of county commissioners (board) may consist of 3 commissioners from 3 districts, with one commissioner elected from each district by voters of the whole county. Alternatively, the board may consist of 5 commissioners, in which case the county may be divided into 3 or 5 districts, and the commissioners may be elected pursuant to numerous methods, including by district or at large or by some combination of both methods.

The bill modifies this discretionary system for any county with a population of 250,000 or more by requiring each such county to have 5 commissioners and 5 districts and to choose one of the following 3 methods for their election:

• 5 commissioners resident in 5 districts elected only by voters resident in those districts;
• 3 commissioners resident in 3 districts elected only by voters resident in those districts and 2 commissioners elected at large; or
• 5 commissioners elected at large using the proportional ranked voting method known as the single transferable vote method.

The bill makes conforming amendments to statutory provisions concerning commissioner district and election petition statutes.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)