Meeting set to choose assessor nominees

Use of fairgrounds will allow for social distancing

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee will hold a meeting on May 13 at 6 p.m. at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, Building 1 to select three nominees to recommend to the Board of County Commissioners to fill the vacancy in the office of Kootenai County assessor.

The meeting will also include agenda items for the committee’s regular monthly meeting, so they do not have to meet again at the end of the month, minimizing gatherings during the first phase of the governor’s rebound order.

Public and private gatherings at this time of the rebound order should be avoided. By gathering at the fairgrounds, the KCRCC will be able to maintain social distancing between all attendees.

KCRCC chair Brent Regan encourages anyone wishing to be nominated for the position to contact their precinct committeeman.

Nominees must be at least 21 years old, be a citizen of the United States, have been a registered elector in the county for at least one year, and be affiliated with the Republican Party.

Only precinct committeemen may nominate a person for the position. Nominations do not require a second. Committeemen will be allowed up to three minutes for a nominating speech at the May 13 meeting. Once the nominating period closes, each nominee will have up to 10 minutes to present themselves to the committee and answer questions.

Once all nominees have presented to the committee, ballots will be distributed. The ballots will have the names of the nominees in order of nomination. Only precinct committeemen may vote for three candidates in preferential order by marking a "1", a "2" or a "3" to indicate their first, second and third choice.

The chairman will collect the ballots and give them to the designated tabulators. Any nominee may designate one person to observe the tabulation. The tabulators will announce to the committee the names of the three candidates with the most number of votes of any preference. In the event of a tie for last place, the chairman shall break the tie.

The tabulators will then total the number preference for each of the votes for each of the three nominees. The nominee with the lowest total will be the first choice and the nominee with the highest total will be the third choice. The chairman will transmit the final list, in order of preference, of the names, addresses and contact information of the nominees to the Board of County Commissioners within 48 hours.