Can a political office be truly ‘nonpartisan’?

Nonpartisan offices have their roots in a reform movement around the turn of the 20th century. 

At the time, political parties were not primarily associated with ideology, said Todd Donovan, political science professor at Western Washington University. 

Instead, parties were corrupt, “patronage-based” machines that used “public offices to reward their political supporters,” said Donovan, a current Whatcom County Council member who is not running for reelection to his seat representing North Bellingham.