General Information
Filing For Office...
Filing for office takes place beginning the first Monday in June of each year and ends the following Friday.
A filing fee of 1% of the annual salary of the office is normally required at the time of filing. This may vary depending on the office sought or the amount of compensation paid.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold I-872 will result in Washington State’s first Top Two Primary. The impact of this new system involves some important points for prospective candidates. These changes only apply to partisan offices. These rules do not apply to nonpartisan offices, Precinct Committee Officers, or the office of President.
Filing
- -File the Declaration of Candidacy form and pay the filing fee as usual.
- -Candidates may indicate a political party preference on the Declaration of Candidacy, or select no party preference; a candidate’s preference will apply to both the primary and general elections.
- -No nomination or endorsement by a party either before or after filing is required.
- -Major political parties may not prevent a candidate from expressing a preference for their party.
- -Minor party candidates and candidates without a party preference do not need to conduct conventions nor gather signatures; candidates need only to file a Declaration of Candidacy and pay a filing fee, if applicable.
- -If no one files for a particular race, then that race will be re-opened for a special three-day filing period.
- I-f only one or two candidates file, that race will still appear on the primary election ballot. Filing will not be reopened if only one candidate files.
- -The ballot will have two lines for every candidate. The candidate’s name will appear on the first line. The second line will contain a statement regarding the candidate’s preference. This statement will appear on both the primary and general election ballots.
- -The two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary qualify for the general election. Candidates must also receive at least 1% of the votes cast for that race in order to advance to the general.
Primary Elections...
Partisan Offices
A Primary election is held for each partisan office regardless of the number of candidates filing.
Names of candidates for County Commissioner appear ONLY on the ballots within their commissioner district in Primary elections.
Judicial Offices
Offices of Justice of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction always appear on Primary election ballots.
Nonpartisan Offices
Candidates not affiliated with a party are only shown on the Primary ballot if at least 3 people file for the same office. If two or fewer candidates file for an office, they will not appear on the Primary Election ballot but will go onto the General Election ballot in an order determined by lot.
The Public Utility District is the only junior taxing district to hold its election of Commissioners in even-numbered years. Names of candidates for Public Utility District Commissioner appear on the Primary election ballot only if more than two candidates have filed for the position and ONLY appear on the ballots within their Commissioner district for the Primary election.
Order of Appearance on the Ballot...
Partisan and Judicial Offices
The names of candidates for partisan office will appear only on the ballot for the major political party for which they have filed a declaration in an order determined by lot.
Nonpartisan Offices
The order of appearance of nonpartisan, non-judicial candidates' names on the ballot will be determined by lot drawing following the close of filing period. Candidate names are not rotated.
Sample and Absentee Ballots
On all sample and absentee ballots, all candidates' names shall appear in an order determined by lot.
General Elections...
Appearance of Names
For non-partisan offices, the name of the candidate who received the greatest number of votes and the candidate who received the next greatest number of votes appear on the General election ballot and in that order. Candidates who did not appear on the Primary ballot will appear on the General Election ballot in the order determined by lot.
Judicial Offices
If a candidate in a contested race for the office of Superior Court Judge receives a majority of all the votes cast for that office, only the name of that candidate is printed on the General election.
Partisan Offices
Candidate's names will appear on the General election ballot by party, with the names of Democrats appearing first, Republicans second, and minor independent candidates by order of filing with the Secretary of State. This is also the order that will be followed for sample ballots. RCW 29A.36.161
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