Methownet BB

The county, not Twisp, issues the ballots. Contact the Assessor's office for a replacement.

The paper has a pretty thorough article on both tax items. Neither issue is a pure jump. The EMS tax had been $.50 per 1000 originally, but as assessed value increased the effective rate dropped to $.29. This renewal restores it to the $.50, which means the effective increase is $.21 per $1000.

The transportation district increase in sales tax is going from .02 % to .03% for street repairs and improvements.

https://methowvalleynews.com/2026/01/22/two-special-election-measures-to-appear-on-feb-10-ballot-in-twisp/

Seems like you could save yourself some anger and confusion by staying informed. Both issues were covered last fall. I believe the special election cycle was chosen as it was the next scheduled ballot cycle.

Bob

The best source of information to answer all of your questions is the County Auditor’s office. Their phone number is 509-422-7240, and their website is https://www.okanogancounty.gov/318/Auditor.
Since others may have the same questions, I will share what I know here.

Q: Where is my mom’s ballot?
A: The first thing she should do is log into VoteWA to check the status of her ballot. There is a link on the Auditor’s website, and I am posting it here: https://voter.votewa.gov/portal2023/login.aspx.
Does your mother live within the city limits of Twisp? As far as I know only people who are registered to vote in the town of Twisp are eligible to vote on these particular ballot issues.

If she is a Twisp resident, and her voter registration address is within the town, then it’s possible that the mail is late. This has been happening a lot lately. If she has not received a ballot by the end of this week, have her contact the Auditor’s office for a replacement.

IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMNEDED TO USE THE BALLOT DROP BOXES TO RETURN BALLOTS. As we have seen, the US mail is just not reliable enough anymore to ensure a timely postmark and ballot return. Any WA state voter can sign up for SMS (text) updates to let them know their ballot has been received. Once you have logged in to the VoteWA portal there is an option to sign up for this service.

Q: Why this election format?
A: Each taxing district decides when to put their issues on the ballot. In this case, it is the Town of Twisp, so I would recommend contacting your town council representative or the mayor to ask them why they chose this particular election date.

State law (RCW 29A.04.321) spells out the dates when elections may be held, and the February and April dates are typically used for levies and bond issues. There are many reasons for this – budget deadlines, number of votes required for passage, etc. It may seem counterintuitive, but putting an issue like this on a November ballot may not get as many votes as you might think. Those ballots tend to be quite long, and often people only vote for the top of the ticket and don’t even bother with the second page. Having an important issue on a ballot all by itself brings more attention to it than if it were buried in a ballot with 20 other things on it.

Q: Why this rate?
A: I believe that the MVN article mentioned in a previous post covered the details very well. Again, it’s ultimately the town of Twisp that is deciding these things, so contact your town council representative or the mayor if the newspaper article doesn’t answer all of your questions.

Q: And why should voters believe this is the only way?
A: I’m not sure what you mean by this – the only way to fund needed services? The only way to run an election? My personal feeling is that there is seldom only one way to do most anything. The details of this election were decided by our elected officials. You can let them know how you feel, and if they are making decisions you disagree with, or you don’t feel as though you are being heard, you can run for office and advocate for the issues you care about.

If you want to learn more about how our elections are run here in Okanogan county, our Auditor welcomes observers. I have observed many times and find it extremely interesting. Both the major political parties have observers present for most of the ballot processing, and you could contact one of them to sign up as a volunteer. If you don’t want to affiliate with either party, you can contact the Auditor to sign up as an independent observer.

Thank you for paying attention to this small, often overlooked election. I hope your mom gets her ballot soon!

Thanks Katie for providing phone numbers and links. Sometimes when I am bothered by an issue I don't think about where to locate these phone numbers and links, so this helps so much. Your explainations regarding the tax rate are very clear.
The RCW explains the date selections, clearly. Be glad residents of Twisp get to vote on this. Providing they get their ballot, but Katie gives the remedy.

There is a great new podcast that discusses AeroMethow, including the new levy. The podcast is called Between Here and Help, hosted by Nicole Ringgold and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts or here:

https://www.aeromethow.org/media

If these initiatives are being paid for from property taxes, wouldn't it make sense for everyone who owns property in Twisp to be able to vote on it? I own a home in Twisp but I rent it out and instead I live in a home that I rent from someone else a few miles outside of Twisp. Because I am registered to vote where I currently live (as that is where I receive mail), I do not get to vote on taxes on the home that I own. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I also sometimes wonder why property taxes have become such a major way to pay for various services... renters use services too! For example, I'm a renter where I currently live and Aero Methow would come out here to help me if needed... so why is it that only Twisp property owners pay for it as opposed to all residents in the Aero Methow service area chipping in?

All property owners in the EMS district do pay property tax towards Aero Methow. I'm in the county and it shows up as part of my bill. As a renter, your landlord pays that tax as well, and you are indirectly paying it.

The reason you don't get to vote everywhere you own property is that you would then be voting in multiple districts, especially if you were one of those who own multiple properties. Aside from giving some people far more votes than other people (and if we're going down that path, are you going to prohibit people who don't own property from voting at all?), it would create a nightmare for various auditor's offices trying to figure out who gets a ballot and what goes on it. Being registered where you live is probably the only manageable means of assuring everyone gets one and only one vote.

Bob