Pierce County to run Yelm district levy election in February

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Yelm Community Schools (YCS) will be saving money in the Feb. 11 educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy special election as Pierce County will run the levy election for the district after signing an interlocal agreement with Thurston County.

The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the interlocal agreement during its Tuesday, Jan. 7, meeting. Pierce County will serve ballots to about 20,000 Thurston County voters who reside in the YCS jurisdiction.

The move comes as Thurston County’s ballot processing center is being remodeled. YCS will save money by putting its levy measure on the Pierce County ballot, which includes an additional measure, instead of being the lone measure on the Thurston County ballot.

The school district has voters in both counties, but voters districtwide will receive mail with Pierce County Elections insignias on it. Voters can still drop off their ballots at ballot boxes in the YCS district or by mail, and Pierce County’s ballot processing machines will be utilized to tally the results.

“This saves us money because we’re sharing the cost with Puyallup on the [Pierce County] ballot as opposed to us paying all the costs in Thurston County because we’d be the only measure on the ballot,” YCS Superintendent Chris Woods said at a Dec. 19 school board meeting. “We just want to make sure that our Thurston County voters don’t panic or think this isn’t their ballot when they receive it in the mail.”

Five drop boxes will be open in the YCS district during the election:

Lackamas Elementary



Nisqually Tribal Admin Building

Rainier City Hall

Yelm Community Schools Administration

Roy City Hall

Pierce County mailed ballots to military and overseas voters on Jan. 10. Ballots will be mailed to all other YCS voters on Jan. 24. The local voters pamphlet will be included in the ballot packets.

If the EP&O levy fails for the third consecutive time on Feb. 11, the Yelm school board could opt to put the measure on the ballot for an April special election as it did in 2024. Pierce County would once again handle the election if that is necessary, according to Thurston County Chief Deputy Auditor Diana Benson.

Commissioner Carolina Mejia said that Pierce County has requested similar help from Thurston County in the past..