Skagit Candidates Petition Washington Supreme Court

Two Skagit County Candidates Ask Washington Supreme Court to Correct “Unopposed” Label on Races That Have Certified Candidates

Emergency motion docketed days before the August 4 primary; petitioners say the county’s own records show four county races are contested

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — Two Skagit County electors have asked the Washington Supreme Court to order the county auditor to correct official election materials that describe four county races as “Unopposed,” even though certified write-in declarations of candidacy for those same offices are on file with — and were accepted by — the auditor’s own office.

Cody Hart and Derrill J. Fussell v. Sandra Perkins, Skagit County Auditor, No. 105619-2, was brought under RCW 29A.68.013, a Washington statute that allows any justice of the Supreme Court, any Court of Appeals judge, or a superior court judge to order an election officer to correct an error or desist from a wrongful act. Court records show the petitioners’ brief and an emergency motion to accelerate review were docketed July 30, 2026, with a declaration of service docketed July 31.

Hart is a certified write-in candidate for Skagit County Sheriff. Fussell is a certified write-in candidate for Skagit County Coroner. Both are registered Skagit County voters, and both are representing themselves.

What the petition says happened

According to the petition and supporting sworn affidavits, certified declarations of write-in candidacy were filed with the Skagit County Auditor’s Office for four county offices on the August 4, 2026 primary ballot: Sheriff (Cody Hart), Clerk (Amanda Toscano), Coroner (Derrill J. Fussell), and Treasurer (Timothy Garrison). The petitioners state the auditor’s office accepted each declaration.

The county’s official 2026 Primary Local Voters’ Pamphlet, distributed to every household in the county during the week of July 13, prints the word “Unopposed” beside county races including Clerk, Coroner, and Treasurer. The petitioners state that an edition later posted on the county’s elections website extended the same label to a fourth race — Sheriff — after the auditor had received written notice of the issue.

At the same time, the petitioners note, the county’s own official sample ballot provides a write-in line for each of those races, as state administrative rules require. The result, they contend, is that the same races are described as “unopposed” in the pamphlet while remaining open to write-in votes on the ballot itself.

The auditor’s response, as described in the filings

The petitioners say they wrote to the auditor on July 13 and July 16 asking for a correction. According to the petition, the auditor declined by email on July 21, describing the designation as an exercise of discretion — “I have exercised my discretion to indicate that certain elected office candidates are unopposed” — while acknowledging that the governing pamphlet statutes “are silent on whether such information is allowed or prohibited,” and inviting contrary authority. The petitioners say they supplied that authority by letter on July 27, and that the designation was not corrected.

On July 28, the petitioners placed the matter before the Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney, the auditor’s legal adviser under state law, asking for written advice to the auditor. They filed in the Supreme Court two days later.

Why the timing matters

The petitioners argue that three Washington statutes make the deadline unforgiving, and that no order entered after August 4 can undo the effect:

• Because they filed as write-in candidates at the primary, state law bars them from filing as write-in candidates for the same offices at the November general election. The primary is their only path to these offices.
• Unless total write-in votes for an office exceed one percent of the votes cast for that office, individual write-in votes are not required to be tallied at all.
• To advance to the general election, a candidate must receive at least one percent of the total votes cast for the office and finish among the top two.

An official county publication telling every household that these races present no choice, the petitioners contend, operates directly on those thresholds while ballots are being voted.

What the petitioners are — and are not — asking for

The filings ask the Court to require the auditor to stop labeling as “Unopposed” any race for which a certified write-in declaration is on file, and to publish a corrective notice by the fastest means available: correcting the electronic pamphlet and the county elections website, posting a one-page notice at ballot drop boxes and voting centers, issuing a press release to local news outlets, and, if practicable, a mailed insert.

In a supplement prepared for filing, the petitioners also ask the Court, in the alternative, to order that write-in votes for the four offices be recorded and reported with the canvass and that related records be preserved — relief that would require nothing of the county before the polls close.

The petitioners state expressly what they are not seeking. Their filings say they seek no change to any rule governing how a voter may vote, no alteration of any ballot, no extension of any deadline, no disqualification of any candidate, and no order enjoining, delaying, or setting aside the August 4 primary or its count.

A question the petitioners say reaches beyond Skagit County

The petition asserts the issue is statewide. It recounts that the auditor defended the practice by stating that “16 counties similarly indicate a candidate/race is unopposed/uncontested,” while 16 do not specify and six appear not to publish a separate local voters’ pamphlet. The petitioners say they reviewed the published 2026 primary pamphlets of Clark, Kitsap, and Chelan counties and found that none labels a county race “Unopposed,” and that they asked the auditor to identify the sixteen counties she referenced.

Either way, the petitioners argue, Washington’s thirty-nine county auditors presently have no statute, no rule, and no guidance from the Secretary of State on the question — and the Supreme Court should settle it. They ask the Court to decide the issue even if the passage of election day is said to moot the request for corrective relief, citing a January 2026 decision in which the Court reached the merits of a moot election-timing dispute involving a county auditor because county auditors needed clear guidance on a recurring question.

The legal authorities cited

The petition rests on federal and state authority. It cites the United States Supreme Court’s observation that state-composed designations placed before voters in official election documents operate “at the most crucial stage in the election process — the instant before the vote is cast.” It cites Ninth Circuit decisions holding that an official designation that is factually misleading burdens First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and describing Washington’s local voters’ pamphlets as a statutory voter-education resource whose accuracy helped sustain the state’s top-two primary against constitutional challenge. And it invokes the Washington Constitution’s command that “All Elections shall be free and equal,” which the state Supreme Court has held goes further to safeguard the right to vote than does the federal constitution.

On the auditor’s claim of discretion, the petition cites long-settled Washington law that discretion is abused when it is exercised on untenable grounds or without regard to the facts.

Statements

“Voters are entitled to accurate information from their own county about what is on their ballot,” said Cody Hart, certified write-in candidate for Skagit County Sheriff. “We are not asking any court to stop an election, change a ballot, or move a deadline. We are asking that a county publication not tell voters the opposite of what that county’s own files show. That is a small thing to ask, and there are only days left in which it can matter.”

“I filed my declaration of candidacy in May, and the county accepted it,” said Derrill J. Fussell, certified write-in candidate for Skagit County Coroner. “Every household in Skagit County then received a pamphlet saying the race I am running in has no one running in it. We asked politely, twice, before we ever went to court.”

Case status

The matter is pending before the Washington Supreme Court as No. 105619-2. Public docket entries as of July 31, 2026 show: petitioners’ brief filed July 30, 2026; emergency motion to accelerate review filed July 30, 2026; declaration of service filed July 31, 2026. The Court has not ruled. The auditor has not yet filed a response, and nothing in this release should be read as a finding by any court.

The petitioners have asked the Court to act before the August 4 primary and, in a supplement prepared for filing, to set an expedited deadline for any response.

About the petitioners

Cody Hart and Derrill J. Fussell are registered electors of Skagit County, Washington, and certified write-in candidates for Skagit County Sheriff and Skagit County Coroner, respectively, in the August 4, 2026 primary election. Both are appearing pro per — representing themselves without counsel.