Candidates can file by mail starting Monday

By Evan Smith

Candidates for local offices may file by mail starting Monday.

The official filing week is May 11-15, but the two-week period for early filing by mail is available for prospective candidates who won't be able to get to the county elections office or to a computer with internet access during filing week, elections officials say.

Filing by mail has some disadvantages, particularly the loss of the candidate's ability to control information that comes with filing online.

Filing forms are available on the county elections web site.

Elections officials return any mailed filing material that arrives before Monday.

During filing week, candidates can file online or in person at the elections office in Renton. In-office filers get instructions on using an in-house computer.

All candidates must pay their filing fees by the end of the filing week. The filing fee is 1 percent of a position’s annual salary. Unpaid positions, like those on school boards, fire commissions, and utility district boards, have no filing fee.

The county determines ballot positions for the August primary by a lot draw after filing week.

Any position with three or more candidates appears on the Aug. 4 primary ballot, with the top two primary vote getters advancing to the Nov. 3 general-election ballot, where the ballot order follows vote order in the primary. Positions with only one or two candidates appear only on the November ballot, with ballot order determined by the lot draw.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.