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Ballot question

Snohomish County Charter Proposition 4: public access to county financial information

On the ballot in
Snohomish County
Vote
Yes or no
Election
Nov 3, 2026

The question, as printed on the ballot

Proposed Amendments to the Snohomish County Charter Proposition No. 4 Increasing Public Access to County Financial Transparency The Snohomish County Charter Review Commission has proposed an amendment to the county charter concerning the availability of public access to county financial information. This proposition would add a new section to Article 6 of the Snohomish County Charter. This proposition requires Snohomish County to make available, where reasonably practicable through existing systems or future modernization efforts, all financial information legally available within the county. Should this proposition be enacted into law:

A “Yes” vote means

The charter would require the county to keep financial information public, searchable and downloadable without fee, where reasonably practicable.

A “No” vote means

The charter would not add a requirement for a searchable, downloadable public financial information system.

Official plain English statement

If approved by voters, this proposition would add a section to the Snohomish County Charter to require the County to maintain, as reasonably practicable, publicly accessible, searchable, and downloadable financial information already collected through budgeting, procurement, contracting, grant administration, and financial records management. When not otherwise proscribed by law, the information should include the purpose or scope of the funded activities, funding amounts and expenditures, recipient names and locations, agreement terms, administering department or agency, associated County Fund or budget line item, audit findings, monitoring reports, reviews, or oversight findings. The information shall be searchable and accessible to the public without fee.

Sources

The question and plain English statement are copied word for word from official election materials. The Gist does not take a side on ballot questions.