Candidate Introductory Statement Rules

1) Candidate Invitations. Every candidate for Mayor, City Attorney or City Council who registers a committee by the last day of May of the election year is eligible to submit a Candidate Introduction.

2) Candidate Introductions submissions: The Executive Director will accept submissions beginning the first business day in January of the election year, through the last day of May of the election year.

a) Each candidate will be invited to submit one Candidate Introduction. Once the final version of the introduction has been submitted, the Executive Director will not accept additional statements, revisions or corrections.

b) Before submission, all written Candidate Introductions should be proof-read for errors in spelling, punctuation, or syntax. The Executive Director and Commission staff will not proof-read statements for such errors.

c) The candidate must include the candidate's name, committee name, campaign telephone number and campaign website with the Candidate Introduction. Unless requested otherwise, this information will appear in the Introduction but will not be counted against the statement word limit.

d) The Executive Director and Commission staff will publish the Candidate Introductions with a sentence indicating whether the candidate is or is not qualified to accept Democracy Vouchers.

e) Order of Appearance. The Executive Director shall publish the Candidate Introductions in order of receipt by district.

3) Availability of Candidate Introductions. The Executive Director will post the Candidate Introductions on the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission website. A printed copy of the Candidate Introductions will be available to each Seattle resident upon request. The Executive Director will publish an updated catalog of Candidate Introductions at least once per month through June of the election year.

a) Translations. The Executive Director will translate and publish the Candidate Introductions into the languages required in SMC 2.04.690.

b) Limitations on Statements. The written statements must not exceed 150 words. The 150-word statement must not include obscene, profane, libelous, or defamatory matter, or language that may impair distribution of the statements through the mail.

4) Editorial Authority Appeals.

a) Upon notice to the candidate, in lieu of an outright rejection, the Executive Director may edit a statement with too many words down to the maximum permitted and/or otherwise remove material which would be cause for rejection of the statement.

b) Any candidate aggrieved by a decision or action of the Executive Director may within five days thereafter appeal the matter to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, which shall convene as soon as practicable. The Commission shall consider the matter under the procedures established for contested cases in SMC Section 3.02.090, subsections B through I inclusive, and subsection M. The decision of the Commission shall be final; there shall be no appeal to the Hearing Examiner.

5) Guidelines. The purpose of the Candidate Introduction is to introduce the candidate to the public prior to the publication of the Voters Pamphlet and Video Voters Guide. Therefore, candidates are encouraged to do the following in their written submissions:

(i) Tell who you are

(ii) Show that you understand this community and its concerns

(iii) Explain where you stand

(iv) Be forthright, and

(v) Set a respectful tone

6) The Executive Director shall determine the format, font, layout, and appearance of the Candidate Introductions consistent with these rules.

These Rules were adopted by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission at the meeting on January 19, 2019, and will be effective on the date they are filed with the City Clerk. The Commission members voting to take this actions were:

Brendan Donckers, Chair

Hardeep Singh Rekhi, Vice Chair

Charlene Angeles

Nicholas Brown

Bruce Carter

Eileen Norton

STATE OF WASHINGTON

CITY OF SEATTLE

I, WAYNE BARNETT, Executive Director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, State of Washington, do hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of the Candidate Introductory Statement Rules adopted on January 19, 2019.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of January, 2019.

___________________________________

WAYNE BARNETT, Executive Director