Edison, Washington – September 16, 2026 – PRESSADVANTAGE –
According to Candidate Cody Hart, Write-in candidates in six counties qualified for the November ballot; a review of all 39 counties finds the state results website names none of them; complaint filed with the Secretary of State seeks statewide guidance before ballots are mailed
Nine declared write-in candidates in six Washington counties earned a place on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot in the August 4 primary, but the state’s official election results website does not name any of them, according Skagit Residents and a review of public records released by Cody Hart and Derrill J. Fussell, two of the nine, who have filed a complaint with the Washington Secretary of State and delivered a written demand to the Skagit County Auditor seeking publication of the certified results.
The nine are Cody Hart for Sheriff, Amanda Toscano for Clerk, Derrill J. Fussell for Coroner, and Timothy Garrison for Treasurer in Skagit County; Katie Nagle for Treasurer in Garfield County; Anson Bartrand for Assessor in Grant County; Andrew F. Scott for Prosecutor in Island County; Rachelle Miller for County Commissioner, District 4, in Spokane County; and Kerry Hills for State Representative, Position 2, in the 28th Legislative District in Pierce County. All nine appear as active general election candidates on the Secretary of State’s VoteWA candidate list for the November election.
On the statewide results website operated for Washington elections, every one of the nine races is displayed as a single printed candidate plus an unnamed “Write-In” line. The review covered the primary results pages for all 39 counties and found no named write-in candidate in any county. Write-in votes exceeded five percent of the total in eight of the nine races and reached 27.95 percent in the Garfield County Treasurer race.
State law addresses the point directly. RCW 29A.60.021(5) provides that the county canvassing board “must certify write-in votes including the vote total received by a candidate that has filed a timely declaration of write-in candidacy” once the one percent threshold is met, and that final results “must consolidate the vote total associated with each candidate.” WAC 434-262-030 requires the auditor’s abstract of votes to include a total for “each declared candidate qualifying for the general election” and excludes from online results only the tallies of candidates who did not meet the threshold.
County practice varies. Garfield County posts an official results report that names Nagle with her vote total and lists her in its general election voters’ pamphlet. Pierce County’s final results report shows “Write-in 1826” for the 28th District race with no candidate name. Grant County’s candidate information page states that write-in candidates do not appear on the ballot, on county websites, or in the printed voters’ pamphlet. Skagit County’s elections page links only to the primary candidate list, which shows one name in each of its four races.
“This is not one county’s oversight, which is why we took it to the Secretary of State. Nine people qualified for the November ballot under the same statute, and the official results name none of them,” said Cody Hart, certified write-in candidate for Skagit County Sheriff. “Voters in six counties are looking at results pages that show races as uncontested when they are not.”
“Garfield County shows it can be done. Its results name the write-in candidate, and its pamphlet lists her,” said Derrill J. Fussell, certified write-in candidate for Skagit County Coroner. “Every county that certified a write-in candidate has the same numbers. They should publish them.”
The complaint, filed under RCW 29A.04.570, which permits any state resident to file a complaint with the Secretary of State about the conduct of an election in a county, asks the Elections Division to review Skagit County’s reporting of the primary and to issue guidance to all 39 county auditors before September 18, 2026, the date military and overseas ballots are scheduled to be mailed, directing that each qualifying write-in candidate’s certified total be published in the official abstract of votes and in the online results. It also asks the Division to confirm that a write-in candidate who qualified for the general election ballot is a candidate for all purposes of that election, including county voters’ pamphlets.
The separate demand letter asks the Skagit County Auditor, by the same date, to post the official canvass report with each write-in candidate’s certified total, to display those totals online, to correct the county candidates page, and to issue public notice of the general election candidates.
The general election candidate list for each county is available at Vote WA, and primary results by county are available at the state election results site.
About the candidates
Cody Hart and Derrill J. Fussell are residents of Skagit County, Washington, and certified write-in candidates for Skagit County Sheriff and Skagit County Coroner, respectively, in the November 3, 2026 general election. Both advanced from the August 4, 2026 primary after receiving more than one percent of the votes cast for their offices. Learn more at skagitresidents.com
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For more information about Candidate Cody Hart, contact the company here:
Candidate Cody Hart
Cody Hart
info@codyhart.org
901 Metcalf #71
Sedro Woolley WA 98284
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