The Washington state elections process is unique and hard to understand. Our election laws seem to be designed to make it easy to cheat, hard to catch the cheating, and hard to challenge elections. This elections integrity issue isnât new⊠itâs been going on for many years. Mandatory mail-in voting, voter registration by the Department of Licensing and same day voter registration are just a few of the flaws in our elections laws.
Our jungle primary system is also a huge problem. In the jungle primary, only the top two vote getters go on to the general election, even if theyâre both of the same party. Flooding the ballot with Republican candidates often splits the vote and prevents any Republican candidate from making it to the general. On our November ballots, weâll often have to make a choice between two candidates we donât like. Or weâll have only one candidate, because no one challenged. Now what do Republican or conservative voters do?
Understand the write-in law
I recently heard a candidate for state office say, âIf you donât like the candidates on your ballot, just write someone inâŠâ Unfortunately, this is really bad advice indicating a lack of understanding about the law for write-in candidates in Washington state. Most of the time, a write-in vote is a wasted vote. Only the election workers will see it, and they donât care if some random voter doesnât understand the law. You have thrown away your vote and you have also opened up your ballot for possible âmishandling.â
Thereâs only one time when a write-in is a ârealâ vote. Letâs look at the law to figure out that limited circumstance.
When does a write-in work?
Before writing in a candidate, understand the law. The section of the law that governs write-in candidates is RCW: 29A.24.311. The secretary of state has a good summary of the rules for write-in candidates.
First, for the General election in November, a write-in candidate may not be a person who was on the primary ballot and lost. It must be a new candidate for that position. For example, in the 4th Congressional District, none of Dan Newhouseâs primary challengers can be legally written in on the November ballot, because they already lost in the primary.
Next, the write-in candidate must personally file to run as a write-in for that position, and pay the necessary fees. This means a real person made a real decision, and put their chips on the table. A vote for anyone who didnât file for the position means that you have thrown away your vote! Donât fall into this trap! Only vote for a real person who has filed to run in the race!
Third, the general election write-in candidate will NOT appear in the voters pamphlet, nor will he or she be on the ballot. This is the price the last-minute candidate pays for not jumping into the primary race. This problem is why most write-in campaigns fail. Why wasnât the candidate organized enough or knowledgeable enough to file during filing week or run in the primary?
To overcome the fact that the write-in candidateâs name is NOT going to be on the ballot, the write-in must have AMAZING jurisdiction-wide name recognition, AND a very, very well-funded campaign. Voters must remember both their name and the race, and then write it inâa very high bar.
If the candidate isnât well known, isnât organized enough to file in a timely manner, and isnât well-funded, their campaign is most likely (but not necessarily) going to lose. It takes strong organizational skills and good funding to win a write-in race.
The bigger the jurisdiction, the harder the write-in campaign becomes. A statewide race or congressional district race are very long shots indeed.
Finally, something youâll be aware of if youâve observed elections in Washington: Any ballot that has a write-in on it must be handled separately by the election workers. They have to determine if thereâs a legal write-in for that race, and then they make their âbest guessâ as to who you intended to vote for in that race.
Iâve observed a lot of elections in Ferry County and I trust my election workers. Our team is top notch! But voters who donât have the privilege of living in Ferry County might not be as confident that ballots requiring âspecial processingâ will be counted correctly, especially in Washingtonâs larger metropolitan areas.
Voters in other parts of the state might want to think twice before doing something that would cause their entire ballot to require special handling, since it adds another layer of uncertainty in a state elections system that already has troubling allegations of fraudulent counting. Most of the time, I donât want to do anything to my ballot to require special processing or handling.
These problems I outlined are true for EVERY write-in campaign, regardless of the position.
A special case
A candidate who was a write-in for the primary election and received at least 1% of the turnout WILL appear on the general election ballot. Thatâs good news for the candidate because voters will see his or her name on the ballot, but itâs still an uphill climb since the candidateâs statement will not appear in the voterâs pamphlet. Such candidates will still need to run a strong campaign to reach the voters.
Donât throw your vote away!
If you are in doubt, you can find the eligible candidates for this Novemberâs election at the VoteWa General Election 2022 page. Use the county drop down menu to choose your county. When you vote for âMickey Mouseâ you have disenfranchised yourself! Do your research this year, and only vote for a valid, registered candidate, whether traditional or write-in. If you have questions, contact your local Republican party or your auditorâs office for help.
Nancy Churchill is a writer and marketing consultant in rural eastern Washington State, and the state committeewoman for the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own.