Hospital district considering election changes
Staff writer
St. Luke Hospital is considering whether to change how hospital board elections are conducted.
“We have historically pretty low participation in our elections from the general public, unless there’s something controversial going on,” chief executive Alex Haines said.
Elections are conducted during the hospital district’s annual meeting in May.
Voting starts at 5 p.m. and typically takes an hour. This may not be convenient for voters just getting off of work or are still working into the evening.
Haines said state law prevented extending voting hours outside of the time for the annual meeting.
Because St. Luke is a district hospital, elections must occur during a single annual meeting of qualified electors, he said. The statute does not allow voters to come and go throughout the day.
“That was kind of surprising to us,” Haines said.
The law does allow another option: moving hospital board elections to the election day ballot during nonpartisan election years.
Any change must be approved by voters at the annual meeting.
“The only people who can change it are the voting members of the district,” Haines said.
If voters approve the change in May, the first county-administered board election would occur in November, 2027. Board members with terms expiring in May, 2027 would have their terms extended until that election.
“If people want to change it, they’re going to need to come and vote this year,” Haines said.
Board chairman Linda Carlson said the board had not yet decided whether to propose a change in how elections are conducted.
“We haven’t had our discussions yet,” Carlson said.
She said the issue is expected to be on the agenda in January or February.
“We are having the discussion and considering it just because people have asked why it’s done the way it’s done,” she said. “And that’s the way it was set in the bylaws.”
St. Luke’s seven-member board is elected at-large.