Ravalli County voters, in the last election, approved reducing the Board of County Commissioners from a five-member board down to three. The voters also rejected the change in term lengths that appeared on the same ballot, meaning that the commissioners will serve four-year terms.
The strategy that was adopted to make this transition, according to Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg, involved limiting the terms of the two commission seats that were up for election this year to two-year terms. Candidates were notified by a disclaimer on the application form that if the reduction in board members was approved by the voters that their terms would expire in two years. That would lead to all the seats on the board expiring at the same time.
In the 2018 general election, only three seats would come open on the board and the winners would draw straws to establish their individual term lengths. One seat would serve a two-year term and the other two would serve a four-year term. When the two-year term expires in 2021, it would then turn into a four-year term.