State Sen. Jackie Dingfelder’s Oct. 16 announcement that she is resigning her legislative seat to work for Portland Mayor Charlie Hales triggers a process that will end with the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners choosing her replacement.
Dingfelder is a Democrat who represents a Senate district (District 23) that’s entirely in Multnomah County. State law says that the nominations to fill any vacancy of a state lawmaker affiliated with a major political party be made by that same party in that legislative district.
That means in this case that Democratic precinct committee people in Senate District 23 will nominate between three and five candidates to forward to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners to consider for the vacancy covering the rest of the four-year Senate term.
Each nominee must be a citizen qualified to hold the office, an elector of the affected legislative district and a member of the same political party for at least 180 days before the date on which the vacancy occurred.
As soon as the nominees have been appointed, but no later than 20 days after the vacancy occurs, the party shall notify the Secretary of State of the persons nominated. The Secretary of State shall then set a time for the meeting of the county board to fill the vacancy and by rule shall establish procedures for the conduct of the meeting.
No date has been set yet for that county board meeting.