photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

The process of replacing outgoing Douglas County Commissioner Shannon Portillo won’t be a formal one with a special election or candidate filings, and it’s not even clear yet when the decision will be made. But several people are reportedly eyeing the seat already, and one of them has come out publicly to express her interest.

Portillo, a Democrat who represents the commission’s 3rd District, announced in early June that she’d accepted a position as director of Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs and would be leaving Douglas County in October.

There won’t be a special election to decide who fills Portillo’s seat on the three-member commission. Instead, the decision will be made by her district’s Democratic Party precinct committee members, low-level party officials who will be elected in the Aug. 2 primary.

Douglas County Democratic Party chair Patricia Willer told the Journal-World that eventually, the committee members will convene to vote on a replacement. When will that happen? It’s not yet clear.

Willer said that in order to trigger the special convention of the committee members, Portillo will have to submit a formal letter of resignation to the county Democratic Party. She hasn’t done that yet, and it’s not clear when that will happen. When it does, however, the committee members will have to convene and vote on a replacement within 21 days.

As far as the candidates for the seat, that’s also up in the air right now. Willer said there would be no formal candidate filing process. Instead, people can nominate themselves or others at the convention or in advance.

“People can nominate themselves ahead of time, they can do outreach to the people who’d be voting to share what their interests are, they can just show up the day of the convention and have someone nominate them or they can nominate themselves,” Willer said. “It’s a very open process in terms of who can choose to run.”

Willer said that even though it’s early in the process, a number of people have already expressed interest in the seat. She didn’t offer any specifics on those prospective candidates, saying she’d prefer to let people announce their interest in the seat themselves.

As of late Thursday afternoon, one person had reached out to the Journal-World to confirm her interest: Amii Castle, a professor in the University of Kansas’ business and law schools. Castle serves as the faculty adviser of KU’s ACLU chapter and as a member of the county Democratic Party’s advisory council. She earned both her undergraduate and law degrees from KU, and before moving to Lawrence six years ago was a practicing attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, for two decades.

photo by: Chris Ortiz

Amii Castle

Castle told the Journal-World Thursday that she became interested in the seat shortly after Portillo announced she intended to leave the commission. Castle said it felt like the “right time” to seek a position in county government.

“When I made this decision and I went to the county website and looked at all the things that the county government was responsible for and the groups that they have looking at this and that, things like climate change and housing and racial equity, I just thought ‘I would really like a seat at this table,'” Castle said. “I know that there’s a lot of work that goes into being a commissioner that isn’t quite as ‘sexy’ as racial justice in our criminal legal system, but every decision potentially has an impact on marginalized folks, rural folks.”

Willer expects more prospective candidates will speak up soon. She said that after the August primary election, the party might hold a candidate forum or another type of public event to introduce community members to the people interested in holding the seat, but those plans haven’t solidified yet. For now, Willer said the party is most interested in finding “someone of merit” to fill the position and being transparent about the process as it plays out.

The Douglas County Commission’s 3rd District covers parts of southern and western Lawrence and western Douglas County. Willer said she’d encourage people who live in the 3rd District, whether they’re interested in the seat or just want more information about the process, to email her at chair@douglascountydems.org with any questions.