Candidate filing for elected office runs next week, from May 11-15, with a two Whitman County commissioner races running alongside state and federal legislative campaigns.
Online filing opens at 9 a.m. Monday and will run through 4 p.m. May 15. The state Secretary of State’s office offers a filing page with Frequently Asked Questions and other information. File online here.
Whitman County offers information on candidate filing here. You can find a listing of candidates of have filed here after the process opens on Monday.
County Auditor Sandy Jamison wrote in an email that just three local races were open to filing: Dist. 1 County Commissioner, Dist. 2 County Commissioner and Superior Court Judge.
Commissioner Art Swannack now represents Dist. 1. Commissioner Dean Kinzer represents Dist. 2. Judge Gary Libey serves in Superior Court. All three ran uncontested in their most recent elections in 2016.
Local voters will also cast ballots on the Fifth Congressional Dist. position held by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers as well as the state Ninth Legislative District positions held by Sen. Mark Schoesler, Rep. Mary Dye and Rep. Joe Schmick.
A Whitman County Watch analysis from last year looking at local races going back to 2008 found that 80 percent of races went uncontested. Election records showed that 505 of the 630 total races examined only had one person run.
Read more about our findings and the challenges of filling local offices here.
Jamison also noted local precinct committee officers for political parties may file for those positions next week. The uncontested filing of alt-right activist James Allsup for a local PCO position in 2018 drew national controversy. The Whitman County GOP later unanimously removed Allsup from the position.
Here’s a video on filing from the Secretary of State’s office: