In districts with 200,000 acres or more, a person 18 years old, being a citizen of the United States and a resident of the state and who holds title or evidence of title to land that is assessed or is assessable by the district pursuant to federal and state law, in the district or proposed district shall be entitled to vote therein. He or she shall be entitled to one vote for the first 10 acres of said land or fraction thereof and one additional vote for all of said land over ten acres. A majority of the directors shall be residents of the county or counties in which the district is situated and all shall be electors of the district. If more than one elector residing outside the county or counties is voted for as director, only that one who receives the highest number of votes shall be considered in ascertaining the result of the election. Where land is community property both the spouses may vote if otherwise qualified. An agent of a corporation, general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, or other legal entity formed pursuant to the laws of the state of Washington or qualified to do business in the state of Washington owning land in the district, duly authorized in writing, may vote on behalf of the land owning entity by filing with the election officers his or her instrument of authority. The agent of such entity is considered an elector of the district, and shall vote in the precinct where the entity's principal office is located or in the precinct nearest the location of the principal office. An elector resident in the district shall vote in the precinct in which he or she resides, all others shall vote in the precinct nearest their residence.
RCW 87.03.045
Qualifications of voters and directors—Districts of 200,000 acres.
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Foster v. Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District (1984)
Most recently applied in 92 Wash. App. 541 - Matthews v. Wenatchee Heights Water Co. (October 1998)
2025 c 191 s 4; 2013 c 23 s 484; 1985 c 66 s 1; 1971 ex.s. c 292 s 72; 1961 c 192 s 12; 1955 c 57 s 4
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.