Pass: 36666 / 68.18% Yes votes ...... 17112 / 31.82% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

Impartial Analysis

The County of El Dorado operates under a County charter that was ratified by the voters on November 8, 1994. The California Constitution provides that a county may adopt a charter to govern itself in regard to specific matters that are identified in Article XI section 4. Voters may amend the charter by a majority vote. On July 29, 2014, the Board of Supervisors of the County of El Dorado (Board) placed this measure on the ballot to seek voter approval to amend El Dorado County Charter section 203.

Measure Q proposes to amend Charter section 203, which currently requires the Board to set an election to fill an unexpired term in the office of supervisor between 90 and 120 days after a vacancy occurs. The amendment would allow the Board more time to set an election to fill a vacancy in the office of supervisor, between 90 and 180 days (instead of 120 days) after a vacancy occurs. The amendment would also extend the current timeframe for the Board to consolidate a special election with a scheduled primary, general or special election in the district where the vacancy occurs, if a vacancy occurs more than 90 days but less than 180 days (instead of 120 days) before the scheduled election.

Recently, the Board was required to set a special election to fill a vacancy in the office of supervisor and the vacancy occurred 151 days before the next scheduled election in November. So under the current version of Charter section 203, the special election could not be consolidated with the already scheduled general election. County taxpayers would have saved many thousands of dollars if the special election could have been consolidated with the general election. Measure Q would allow a special election to be consolidated with a general election within 180 days of the vacancy.

A "yes" vote is a vote in favor of amending the El Dorado County Charter to delete the current time period of 90 to 120 days and to replace it with a new time period of 90 and 180 days, for the Board of Supervisors to set a special election to fill an unexpired term on the Board of Supervisors, and to allow the special election to be consolidated with an already scheduled primary, general, or special election, involving the district in which the vacancy occurs, more than 90 days but less than 180 after the vacancy occurs.

A no vote is a vote against amending current Charter section 203.

Edward L. Knapp County Counsel