Valid petition signatures lead toward November election on East Jefferson electricity future

Published 4:16 am Tuesday, July 1, 2008

PORT TOWNSEND — The question of whether to give Jefferson County Public Utility District authority to provide electric power is expected to go to the voters.

T county Auditor’s Office certified enough valid petition signatures, forcing the matter to county commissioners to schedule an election in November.

County Chief Deputy Auditor/Elections Coordinator Karen Cartmel certified that of the 2,169 petition signatures presented by Citizens for Local Power last week, 1,650 valid registered-voter signatures were certified.

With 1,626 valid signatures needed to call the election, County Auditor Donna Eldridge said, “Once we hit the number we needed, we stopped.”

Cartmel reported that 1,830 signatures were checked and 180 were found to be invalid.