About Me
I was born and raised in Clark County, and I am passionate about civics, democracy, and our community. I am a substitute teacher at Evergreen Public Schools, where I regularly take long term positions teaching civics and media literacy. I am running for Charter Review because I want to make our local government more accessible to the average person.
I have experience volunteering with the Vancouver Free Fridge Project, and the Clark County Food Bank.
What is the Charter Review?
You can think of the Charter as the County’s constitution. Under Washington State law, the County Charter determines how the County government is structured, including things like: Which officials are elected vs appointed, how much councilors are paid, how elections are structured, and more. The Charter Review Commission is elected every 5 years. Each of the 5 County districts elects 3 commissioners, for a total of 15. After the election, the commissioners will spend about a year reviewing and discussing the charter, before finally having the opportunity to propose amendments to the charter. The population of Clark County will then vote on these amendments.
My Platform
The primary policy I am proposing for the County Charter is ranked choice voting or RCV. Under our current voting system, voters are more often than not voting against what they hate, rather than for what they support.
All your choices matter
Under RCV, voters rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third and so on.
Every vote is counted
If your first choice doesn’t have a chance to win, your ballot counts for your next choice!
No vote goes to waste!
With RCV, every voter can support the candidate they most agree with, without fear of wasting their vote.
If elected, I will work with the other commissioners to craft amendments that serve the community. If you have any burning questions about the Charter, or my campaign, please contact me and I will respond as soon as I can!
How to get in touch with me
johnbower152@gmail.com