Single-candidate primary just part of overall election cost

By Evan Smith

Primary election ballots in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and the rest of King County have a judicial election with a single candidate, but that adds little to the cost of the election.

King County elections spokeswoman Kim Van Eckstrom said Thursday that the cost of one item is just part of the overall cost of the election.

The primary adds significant cost to an election only if more voters have to get ballots.

In Snohomish County, where some meaningless two-person partisan primaries are on the ballot, elections manager Garth Fell said Thursday that election costs go up primarily with the number of ballots that the County must print, mail and count. So those elections add little or no cost if people get ballots anyway.

If there were places in King County where the single-candidate appeals court election was the only thing on the ballot, it would add significantly to the cost of the election. However, since the whole County will vote on the veterans and human services levy, every eligible voter in the County will get a ballot; so the single-candidate judicial primary will add little to the cost of the election.