//Run for office · Washington

How to run for local office in Washington

Washington elects nearly every local office in odd-numbered years and mails every voter a ballot 18 days out; King County posts a returned-ballot list every two hours, so 2027 is your year and that list is your map.

Facts checked against official sources · September 9, 2026

Washington is the rare state where a first-time candidate does not have to wait for a presidential or gubernatorial cycle: every city, town and district general election is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd-numbered years (RCW 29A.04.330), with a top-two primary on the first Tuesday of August if three or more people file. The next round is November 2, 2027, with filing week May 3 to 7, 2027 (RCW 29A.24.050). You file with the county auditor, not the Secretary of State, and the fee is 1 percent of the office's annual salary, or a petition with one signature per dollar if you cannot pay (RCW 29A.24.091).

Every registered voter is mailed a ballot at least 18 days before the election (RCW 29A.40.070), returns it to a drop box by 8 pm or postmarks it by election day (RCW 29A.40.091), and can register in person right up to 8 pm on election day (RCW 29A.08.140). County auditors scan returned envelopes continuously, and the Secretary of State and the big counties publish return data throughout the 18-day window; King County's ballot status report is a downloadable list of every ballot received, refreshed every two hours on business days. Campaign finance for every office is filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission, and contribution limits of $1,200 per person per election apply to county, city council, mayoral and school board candidates (RCW 29B.40.020; WAC 390-05-400).

Election authority: Washington Secretary of State, Elections Division
Voter file: Available for political and election purposes
Campaign finance: PDC online filing (C-1 registration, C-3 and C-4 reports, F-1) (Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC))
How voters vote: Every registered voter is mailed a ballot
Registration deadline: Online and mail registrations must be received 8 days before the election: July 26, 2027 for the primary and October 25, 2027 for the general. Registration in person at the county auditor's office or a voting center is allowed until 8 pm on election day (RCW 29A.08.140).
Local offices: All city, town, school district, special purpose district and judicial offices are nonpartisan. County offices in most counties are partisan (commissioner, sheriff, prosecutor, auditor, assessor, treasurer, clerk), though some charter counties such as King have made them nonpartisan; Washington's top-two primary advances the two highest vote-getters regardless of party, and a nonpartisan position with two or fewer candidates has no primary at all (RCW 29A.52.220).

Who runs elections in Washington

Washington Secretary of State, Elections Division The Secretary of State runs the statewide voter registration database (VoteWA), sells the statewide voter list extract, certifies filings for statewide, legislative and judicial offices, runs the online candidate filing system that county auditors use for local offices, and posts ballot return statistics by county after 5 pm each business day from two weeks before an election until certification. Local candidates file candidacy with the county auditor and campaign finance with the Public Disclosure Commission; the Secretary of State's role for them is the voter file and the return statistics.

Washington's 39 county auditors (King County has an appointed Director of Elections) register voters, mail ballots, run drop boxes and voting centers, verify signatures and certify results. The auditor is the filing officer for every office other than statewide, legislative, court of appeals and superior court, and for a nonpartisan district that spans counties the filing officer is the auditor of the county where most of the district's voters live (RCW 29A.24.070). Cities and towns contract with the county to run their elections; there are no municipal election offices.

Getting the Washington voter file

The voter file is the list of every registered voter, with the fields a campaign needs to target: address, party where the state records it, and vote history. In Washington it comes from Washington Secretary of State (statewide voter registration database extract); county auditors (county lists and precinct lists).

Access: Available for political and election purposes
Cost: Confirm with Washington Secretary of State (statewide voter registration database extract); county auditors (county lists and precinct lists)
Format: Electronic extract from the statewide database; county auditors also provide precinct lists. King County routes data requests through its Public Records Request Center.
Vote history: Included
Phone numbers: Not included
Updated: Confirm with Washington Secretary of State (statewide voter registration database extract); county auditors (county lists and precinct lists)

Who can get it: Anyone. Precinct lists and current lists of registered voters are public records that must be made available for public inspection and copying (RCW 29A.08.720), and the Secretary of State sells the statewide extract from its VRDB page.

Permitted use: Any political purpose, defined as supporting or opposing candidates or ballot measures and related political communication (RCW 29A.08.720). The list may not be used to mail or deliver any advertisement, offer or solicitation.

County option: Yes. County auditors hold the original registration records and must provide current lists of registered voters and precinct lists on request (RCW 29A.08.710 and 29A.08.720). For a city or school district race the county list is the practical route; King County takes requests through its Public Records Request Center.

Public fields (RCW 29A.08.710(2)(a)): name, address, political jurisdiction, gender, year of birth, voting record, date of registration and registration number. No other information from registration records is available, so no phone, email, full birth date or signature.
Voters in the Address Confidentiality Program (RCW 40.24.060) and records of voters under 18 are excluded. Washington does not register voters by party.
Registration data changes daily as people move, register or are canceled; each extract is a snapshot, so re-pull after the 8-day registration deadline. The Secretary of State's order page could not be read on 2026-09-09; confirm the price and refresh cadence with the Elections Division.

Whatever file you get, Culper imports it as a CSV and maps the columns for you. See how to read a voter file for what the fields mean.

Filing to run for local office in Washington

Washington packs almost all candidate filing into one week: declarations of candidacy are accepted from the first Monday in May through the following Friday, 8 am to 5 pm (RCW 29A.24.050), so May 3 to 7, 2027. Local candidates file with the county auditor, most of them online through the Secretary of State's filing system. The fee is 1 percent of the office's annual salary if the salary is over $1,000, $10 if it is $1,000 or less, and nothing for offices paid per diem or per meeting (RCW 29A.24.091); a candidate without the means to pay may file a petition with as many voter signatures as dollars in the fee. Withdrawal is allowed through the Monday after filing week (May 10, 2027). If no more than two candidates file for a nonpartisan position, it skips the August primary and goes straight to November (RCW 29A.52.220).

File with: County auditor for all city, town, school district, special purpose district and county offices (RCW 29A.24.070); a multi-county nonpartisan district files with the auditor of the county holding a majority of its registered voters, and a joint school district with the auditor designated by the superintendent of public instruction. Statewide, legislative and superior and appellate court candidates file with the Secretary of State.
Filing fee: 1 percent of the annual salary of the office at the time of filing if the salary exceeds $1,000; $10 if the salary is $1,000 or less; no fee for precinct committee officer or any office compensated per diem or per meeting, which covers most school boards and small district boards (RCW 29A.24.091). Fees are nonrefundable (RCW 29A.24.131). Your county elections office posts the exact fee for each open office.
Petition: Only as a substitute for the fee: a candidate without sufficient assets or income may file a filing fee petition signed by registered voters of the district, with no fewer signatures than the number of dollars in the fee (RCW 29A.24.091). Signatures cannot be mixed with cash and cannot be filed electronically. No nominating petition is otherwise required.
Partisan?: All city, town, school district, special purpose district and judicial offices are nonpartisan. County offices in most counties are partisan (commissioner, sheriff, prosecutor, auditor, assessor, treasurer, clerk), though some charter counties such as King have made them nonpartisan; Washington's top-two primary advances the two highest vote-getters regardless of party, and a nonpartisan position with two or fewer candidates has no primary at all (RCW 29A.52.220).

Filing window: The first Monday in May through the following Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, in the year of the election (RCW 29A.24.050): May 3 to 7, 2027 for the November 2, 2027 general. Online filing usually opens at 9 am Monday; paper declarations may arrive up to 10 business days early but are not accepted before the window opens. A special three-day filing period follows if no one files for a position.

Key Washington dates
What	When	Note
Candidate filing week opens, 2027 local elections	May 3, 2027	First Monday in May, 8 am (RCW 29A.24.050). File online with the county auditor; fee or signature petition due with the declaration.
Candidate filing week closes, 2027 local elections	May 7, 2027	5 pm Friday (RCW 29A.24.050). Withdrawals are accepted through 5 pm the following Monday, May 10, 2027.
PDC 21-day pre-primary report	July 13, 2027	Full reporters only (RCW 29B.25.090); 7-day report due July 27.
Ballots mailed, August 3, 2027 primary	July 16, 2027	At least 18 days before the election (RCW 29A.40.070). Online and mail registration close July 26.
Primary election (only races with three or more candidates)	August 3, 2027	First Tuesday of August (RCW 29A.04.311). Ballots to a drop box by 8 pm or postmarked today.
PDC 21-day pre-general report	October 12, 2027	Full reporters (RCW 29B.25.090); 7-day report due October 26; post-election report December 10.
Ballots mailed, November 2, 2027 general	October 15, 2027	At least 18 days before (RCW 29A.40.070). Online and mail registration close October 25; in-person registration continues to 8 pm on election day.
General election for city, town, school and district offices	November 2, 2027	First Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd years (RCW 29A.04.330). Drop boxes close 8 pm.

A candidate must be a registered voter of the district when filing, and providing false information on a declaration is a class C felony (RCW 29A.84.711).
Seattle candidates who want Democracy Vouchers have a separate qualification timeline set by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

Campaign finance rules in Washington

State-level campaign finance in Washington is overseen by Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) through PDC online filing (C-1 registration, C-3 and C-4 reports, F-1).

Where local candidates file: Every candidate files with the PDC, a state agency, regardless of office; there is no county or city campaign finance filing, with one exception: Seattle candidates also file the C-1 and a Seattle F-1 with the Seattle City Clerk. You register (C-1) and file the Personal Financial Affairs Statement (F-1) within two weeks of becoming a candidate, which happens the moment you announce, raise or spend money, or reserve advertising, and you designate a treasurer in the same two weeks (RCW 29B.25.040). Choose mini reporting if you will raise and spend no more than $7,000 (beyond filing fees) and take no more than $500 from any one contributor: you file no contribution or expenditure reports, only the registration, and open your books for inspection the 8 days before the election. Otherwise choose full reporting. Candidates for an office in a district that does not cover a whole county and has fewer than 5,000 registered voters are exempt from the campaign finance chapter altogether (RCW 29B.25.010).

Contribution limits: RCW 29B.40.020 covers candidates for county office, port district, city council, mayor, school board and public hospital districts over 150,000 population. The statutory $800 per election has been inflation-adjusted to $1,200 per election from any person or PAC for county, city council, mayoral, school board and legislative candidates and $2,400 for port commissioner and state executive candidates (WAC 390-05-400, last set 2023; PDC contribution limits page). The primary and general are separate elections, and party and caucus committees have their own per-registered-voter limits. Offices not listed, such as fire, water, parks and most special purpose districts, have no state limit. King County caps contributions to candidates for Executive, Council, Assessor and Director of Elections at $1,200 per election, $2,400 per cycle, for 2026-2027 (King County Code 1.05, CSI-13). Seattle caps contributions to Mayor, City Attorney and Council candidates at $650 per election cycle, or $350 plus up to $100 in Democracy Vouchers for candidates in the Democracy Voucher Program (SEEC, 2025 cycle).

Reporting: Full reporters file a C-4 summary on the 21st and 7th day before each election they are in and on the 10th day of the first full month after, plus a monthly C-4 on the 10th in any month with more than $200 of activity, and weekly C-3 deposit reports each Monday from the fifth month before a general election (RCW 29B.25.090). Books must be current within five business days, and within one business day in the last 10 days before the election.

The PDC adjusts limits and thresholds for inflation at the start of even-numbered years; the $7,000 mini reporting ceiling and $1,200 limit are the 2026 figures.
Switching from mini to full reporting requires PDC approval at least 30 business days before a primary or special election.

Limits and thresholds change. Treat the figures here as a starting point and confirm the current schedule with Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) before you accept a check. Our campaign finance basics guide covers the bookkeeping every local candidate needs on day one.

How voting works in Washington

Every registered voter is mailed a ballot. Every registered voter is mailed a ballot for every election at least 18 days before election day (RCW 29A.40.070). Voters return it postage-paid by mail with a postmark no later than election day, or to an official drop box or the county auditor by 8 pm on election day (RCW 29A.40.091). Voting centers offer accessible voting units and replacement ballots through election day, and in-person registration is available until 8 pm.

Early voting: The 18-day voting period is the early-voting period: ballots, drop boxes and accessible voting units at county voting centers are all available from the mailing date through 8 pm on election day. There are no separate early-voting days.
Mail ballots: Mailed at least 18 days before each primary or election to every registered voter, and at least 45 days before a primary or general to military and overseas voters (RCW 29A.40.070). Return envelopes are postage-paid; mailed ballots need only a postmark by election day. Voters can track their ballot in VoteWA or, in King County, its ballot tracker.
Registration deadline: Online and mail registrations must be received 8 days before the election: July 26, 2027 for the primary and October 25, 2027 for the general. Registration in person at the county auditor's office or a voting center is allowed until 8 pm on election day (RCW 29A.08.140).
Same-day registration: Yes

Knowing who has already voted: Two public sources, one statewide and one county-level. The Secretary of State posts Ballot Return Statistics after 5 pm each business day from two weeks before election day until certification, by county and (for the general) by legislative district; these are aggregates, useful for pacing but not for suppression. The voter-level list comes from the county auditor. King County posts a downloadable ballot status report listing every ballot received, accepted or challenged, refreshed every 2 hours between 8 am and 6 pm on business days, on its ballot return statistics page for each election, free, and its online tracker shows individual status. Other counties keep the same received/accepted record in VoteWA as they scan envelopes; ask your auditor for its returned-ballot or matchback file and how often it can send it, since format and cadence vary and are not published. Because ballots postmarked on election day keep arriving for days, treat the list as a floor and keep chasing non-returners through the final weekend.

In a vote-by-mail state the campaign is won during the return window, not on election day. Read ballot chase in vote-by-mail states for how to work the returned-ballot list every day.

Local government in Washington: what you can run for

39 counties, each governed by an elected board of commissioners or, in home-rule charter counties such as King, Pierce, Snohomish, Clark and Whatcom, an elected council and executive; countywide officers (sheriff, prosecutor, auditor, assessor, treasurer, clerk) are elected. Cities and towns elect councils, and either an elected mayor (mayor-council) or a council-appointed manager; Seattle has its own campaign finance commission and Democracy Voucher public financing. School districts elect boards of directors, and the state's special purpose districts (fire, water-sewer, hospital, port, public utility, parks and recreation, library, cemetery, conservation) each elect commissioners. Port and public utility districts and a few others run on their own election rules (RCW 29A.04.330).

City or town council
Mayor
County commissioner or county council member
County sheriff, prosecutor, auditor, assessor, treasurer, clerk
School board director
Fire, water-sewer, hospital or parks district commissioner
Port commissioner
Public utility district commissioner
Precinct committee officer

When local elections happen: City, town and district general elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd-numbered years, with the primary on the first Tuesday of August (RCW 29A.04.330 and 29A.04.311); the next are August 3 and November 2, 2027. County offices, the legislature and statewide offices run in even years. Special elections for levies and bonds can be called in February, April, August or November. Because most local offices have four-year staggered terms, roughly half of each council or board is up every odd year.

Park and recreation district and cemetery district commissioners never have a primary; other nonpartisan positions skip it when two or fewer candidates file (RCW 29A.52.220).

Running your Washington campaign on Culper

Culper does not license voter data in Washington today. You upload the Washington voter file described above as a CSV, and every feature runs on it: search and lists, plain-English queries, texting and email, block walking, and volunteer coordination. Online donation processing is in development; ask about timing on the onboarding call. Your file stays in your campaign's workspace and is never shared with another campaign.

Set up your Washington campaign in an afternoon

Upload the voter file, ask for your first list in plain English, and hand your volunteers the walking app. Signup is open to candidates in every state. Pricing is set after a short call so it matches the size of the race.

Get started Book a demo

Washington questions we get asked

When is the next local election in Washington and when is filing week?

November 2, 2027, when every Washington city, town, school district and special purpose district holds its general election (RCW 29A.04.330), with an August 3, 2027 top-two primary for any position that draws three or more candidates. Filing week is May 3 to 7, 2027: declarations of candidacy are accepted from 8 am Monday to 5 pm Friday, almost always online through the county auditor (RCW 29A.24.050). Withdraw by 5 pm Monday, May 10. Miss the week and your only route is a write-in declaration.

What does it cost to file for city council or school board in Washington?

One percent of the office's annual salary if it pays more than $1,000 a year, $10 if it pays $1,000 or less, and nothing if it is paid per diem or per meeting, which describes most Washington school boards and small district boards (RCW 29A.24.091). Your county elections office posts the exact fee for each open office. If you cannot afford it, file a petition with at least one registered voter's signature for every dollar of the fee instead; you cannot mix cash and signatures. Fees are nonrefundable even if you file for the wrong office.

How do I get the Washington voter file and what is in it?

Order the statewide extract from the Secretary of State's voter registration database page, or ask your county auditor for the county or precinct list; both are public records available for any political purpose (RCW 29A.08.720). The file carries name, address, political jurisdiction, gender, year of birth, voting record, registration date and registration number and nothing else (RCW 29A.08.710), so there is no phone, email or party. Washington does not register by party, so your targeting has to come from vote history and geography. The Secretary of State's order page could not be checked on 2026-09-09, so confirm price and refresh schedule with the Elections Division before you budget.

How do I know who has already voted in a Washington election?

From your county auditor, and in King County from a free download. King County Elections posts a ballot status report listing every ballot received, accepted or challenged, refreshed every two hours on business days during the 18-day voting window, on its ballot return statistics page. Other Washington counties record the same data in VoteWA as envelopes are scanned; ask the auditor for its returned-ballot file and cadence. The Secretary of State's daily Ballot Return Statistics are county and district totals, good for pacing but not for pulling names.

What are the contribution limits for a Washington local candidate?

$1,200 per person or PAC per election for county, city council, mayoral, school board and legislative candidates, and $2,400 for port commissioners, under RCW 29B.40.020 as inflation-adjusted in WAC 390-05-400; the primary and general each get a fresh limit. Fire, water, parks and most other special purpose districts have no state limit. Local rules can be tighter: King County holds county candidates to $1,200 per election ($2,400 per cycle) for 2026-2027, and Seattle holds Mayor, City Attorney and Council candidates to $650 per election cycle, or $350 plus $100 in vouchers for Democracy Voucher participants. Candidates may give unlimited personal funds unless they chose mini reporting.

Do I file campaign finance reports with the county or with the state in Washington?

With the state Public Disclosure Commission, for every office. Within two weeks of becoming a candidate you file the C-1 registration and F-1 personal financial statement and name a treasurer (RCW 29B.25.040). If you will raise and spend $7,000 or less and take no more than $500 from anyone, choose mini reporting and you never file a C-3 or C-4. Above that, full reporting means C-4 reports 21 and 7 days before each election and on the 10th of the month after, plus weekly C-3 deposit reports in the run-up to the general (RCW 29B.25.090). Only Seattle adds a local filing, with the City Clerk. Districts under 5,000 voters that do not cover a whole county are exempt entirely (RCW 29B.25.010).

When are Washington ballots mailed and when does voting end?

At least 18 days before election day (RCW 29A.40.070): by July 16, 2027 for the August 3 primary and by October 15, 2027 for the November 2 general. Online and mail registration close 8 days out (July 26 and October 25), but Washington voters can register in person at the auditor's office or a voting center until 8 pm on election day (RCW 29A.08.140). Ballots go in a drop box by 8 pm or in the mail with an election-day postmark (RCW 29A.40.091). Land your first piece the week ballots drop and use the county's returned-ballot list to narrow the last 10 days.

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Sources

Facts on this page were checked against the official sources below on September 9, 2026. Rules change between cycles; when a number here and the agency disagree, the agency is right.