David Ammons from the Secretary of State’s office in Olympia sent along this memo and timeline for Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed special election to raise the state sales tax.

 

” Bottom line:  The Legislature will need to approve the referendum bill by Dec. 30 in order to make the deadline for the March 13 election date.  Most of the 45-day lead time is driven by the Voters’ Pamphlet preparation. The VP is mandated by the Constitution and the timelines can be accelerated by the Legislature a bit – the attached is the accelerated timeline. The cost of the statewide election is estimated at $8 million.”

 

Key dates involving state revenue package vote in March 2012

 

December:

December 27 – Format February 14 election ballots for local governments, incl school district levies

Dec. 30 – Last day for Legislature to pass tax referendum bill for March 13 election

 

January:

January 4 – Pro and con committee members appointed

January 6 – Print February 14 election ballots

January 11 – Pro and con arguments due

January 13 – Military and overseas ballots mailed for February 14 election

January 16 – Pro/con rebuttals due; OFM statement due; AG statement due

January 17 – Develop voters’ pamphlet layout

January 23 – Voters’ pamphlet text sent out for accessible format, and Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese translation

January 27 – Regular ballots mailed for February 14 election

 

February:

February 3 – Print March election ballots

February 6 – Voters’ pamphlet material to printers

February 8 – Review voters’ pamphlet proofs

February 9 – Printing of voters’ pamphlets begins for March 13 election

February 10 – Military and overseas ballots mailed for March election

February 14 – Election Day; voter registration deadline for March 13 election

February 16 – Delivery of voters’ pamphlets to regional distributors begins

February 21 – Mailing of voters’ pamphlets begins for March 13 election

February 24 – Counties certify February 14 election; regular ballots mailed for March 13 election

February 28 – Format April election ballots

 

March:

March 9 – Print April election ballots

March 13 – Election Day

March 16 – Military and overseas ballots mailed for April election

March 19 – Voter registration deadline for April election

March 23 – Counties certify March 13 election

March 28 – Secretary of State certifies March election

March 30 – Regular ballots mailed for April election