Primary election voting starts today, Friday, July 15, 2022. Three local races: County Auditor, County Coroner, and County Clerk actually offer voters a choice in that there are two candidates for each. The remaining five Kittitas County positions have incumbents who are running unopposed.
As a registered voter, our due diligence includes doing candidate research to determine who is best suited by education, experience, and goals for a given position.
Understanding candidates, including their reasons for standing for office and what they hope to accomplish, are key to choosing the best person for the position, regardless of party affiliation. Of the eleven candidates for Kittitas County office, seven respected the voters enough to submit a candidate statement to the county voter pamphlet to help voters understand them and their candidacy.
Some of those who did not submit a candidate statement for the local pamphlet may be relying on their online campaign and facebook sites to get out the word; but at least two incumbents running unopposed don’t appear to have any campaign or facebook sites. As a reminder, having a campaign presence only online just works for voters with internet access and/or familiarity with navigating online. Not all voters are able to search out candidate information online, so printed information is still a valued resource for them.
While running unopposed may make the end result a foregone conclusion, write-in candidates may register to run at any time between now and election day. Who knows? Someone may decide that they will take the plunge to challenge any candidate as a write-in. It would be a benefit to voters to be able to compare candidates and they can only do that when a candidate provides the avenue for them to do so.
For this and all future elections, The League urges all candidates for elected office to take advantage of all avenues to inform voters of their candidacy, including where appropriate; local and state voter pamphlets, and vote411.org candidate questionnaires.
The League would like to recognize and commend these candidates for taking the time to submit Kittitas County voter pamphlet candidate statements to assist voters in this primary election:
- Jerry Pettit – incumbent County Auditor
- Bryan Elliott – candidate for County Auditor
- Karen Bowen – interim County Clerk
- Deborah Robinson – candidate for County Coroner
- Brett Wachsmith – incumbent County Commissioner, running unopposed
- Clay Meyers – incumbent County Sheriff, running unopposed
- Amy Cziske – incumbent County Treasurer, running unopposed