ISLAND COUNTY: Filing Week 2023

UPDATE – May 19, 2023: As is often the case, Friday turned out to be the heaviest day of filing since Monday. Lots of people see opportunity and open offices and file, sometimes very close to the last minute. The last person to file this week was Meg Olson, who will challenge Coupeville Mayor Molly Hughes. Hughes, who will be on the Coupeville ballot for the sixth time (three runs for City Council, and now three for Mayor) will only face an opponent for the second time. She hasn’t faced a challenger since her first re-election bid for the City Council in 2007.

There was plenty of other municipal action, too. Andy Plumlee, who applied for the vacant position 4 on the Oak Harbor City Council but didn’t make the shortlist, filed for the position 2 seat from which Beth Munns is retiring. He joins shortlister Chris Wiegenstein and former mayoral candidate Pat Harman in that race. And the position 4 race is crowded, too: all three shortlisters (Barbara Armes, John Chaszar, and Wismine D’Avilar) filed in that race. Plus, a fourth mayoral candidate emerged in Craig Nurvic. Down in Langley, Mayor Scott Chaplin decided to run against incumbent City Councilman Craig Cyr.

School board races heated up as well. In Oak Harbor, where all five directors are on the ballot, only Lynn Goebel is running unopposed. Incumbent Jessica Aws will face former State Representative candidate Karen Lesetmoe. Jessica Thompson, who lost narrowly to John Diamond two years ago, will challenge Nicole Tesch. Tesch was appointed to fill Diamond’s seat after his resignation. And Sharon Jensen filed on Friday to retain the seat she just got in January, but will face two opponents: Will Smith and Aisha Mayfield.

In Coupeville, Glenda Merwine resigned from her seat on the school board last fall for her health and to spend more time with her family. Her husband, Charles, filed to run for the board on Friday, along with Leann Leavitt; they are vying for the seat of Christine Sears, who decided not to run. And in the Stanwood-Camano School District, three people filed for position 5, an at-large seat currently held by Natalie Hagglund. Ms. Hagglund is not seeking re-election, but Satin-Deseree Arnett, Steve King, and Megan Vogel joined Phil Snider on the ballot. (Vogel subsequently withdrew.)

Municipalities and school boards saw the lions’ share of activity on Friday, but there were a couple of entries in other positions. Marion Jouas filed to challenge the most recent appointee to the WhidbeyHealth board, Morgan Cooper. and Scott E. Jackson will face T.J. Lamont for a seat on the North Whidbey Fire and Rescue District board.

Four Port Commissioner seats ended Filing Week with no applicants. At the Port of Coupeville, David Day is not seeking re-election, and no one filed to replace him. And at the sleepy Port of Mabana on Camano Island, all three seats are up for election, and no one filed for any of them. The Island County Auditor will announce a special filing period to allow another opportunity for candidates to step forward.

See earlier updates at the bottom of this post.

ORIGINAL POST: In Washington State, citizens who wish to run for elective office must file with their County Auditor or the Secretary of State. The official filing period lasts for five days, starting on the Monday two weeks before Memorial Day. In 2023, this means Filing Week is from May 15-19.

Below, we have listed the offices on the ballot in 2023 with the incumbent and all candidates who have filed. More details can be found at VoteWA.gov. If you are interested in running for office, you can find more information at the Island County Elections website.

Please note: all offices on the ballot this year are non-partisan, so no party preferences are listed. Also, there are many water districts with offices on the ballot this year, but we do not cover those races.

UPDATE – May 18, 2023: The mystery of Karen Lesetmoe’s disappearance from the filing list was cleared up today: she has withdrawn from the Oak Harbor School District race against Lynn Goebel. The OHSD is particularly interesting this year, because all five seats are on the ballot: three directors are coming to the end of their terms, and the two directors elected in 2021 resigned and have been replaced. So far, only two of the incumbents have filed: Ms. Goebel in Position 1, and appointee Nicole Tesch in Position 4. Director Bob Hallahan announced his retirement from Position 3. Jessica Aws in Position 2 hasn’t filed yet, and neither has Sharon Jensen, who was appointed to Position 5 in January. The Position 3 race got more interesting today: Fred Wilmot, who filed on Tuesday afternoon, is drawing a challenge from Josh MacLean.

Five more races became competitive today. Wismine D’Avilar filed for the Oak Harbor City Council seat Dan Evans vacated, joining Barbara Armes and John Chaszar. All three are also applying for the vacancy. Hospital Commissioner Eric Anderson will be facing Kate Rose (aka Mary Anderson — not sure what that’s all about). Betsy Foster, who is seeking Stanwood-Camano School District position 4, will face Stephen Hendrickson. That seat was just filled by Debbie Bayes after Ken Christoferson resigned in December; Ms. Bayes has not filed—yet. Coupeville Port Commissioner John Callahan is another appointee who faces a challenge, from Angela Ewart. And Patty Blouin is taking on incumbent Cemetery District No. 2 Commissioner Loann C. Gulick.

Finally, two South Whidbey Parks & Rec Commissioners filed to keep their seats: Krista Loercher and Jennifer Cox. Neither has an opponent so far.

UPDATE – May 17, 2023: Wednesday is often a slow day in filing week, and only four new candidates emerged today. Two races became competitive in the county’s school districts: David Ford will challenging recent appointee Alison Perera for the Coupeville School Board’s position 4, an at-large seat. And incumbent Miranda Evans, in position 3 at the Stanwood-Camano School Board, drew an opponent named Brittney Trammell. Two Coupeville incumbents put their hats in the ring to keep their jobs today as well: Town Councilwoman Jacquelin Henderson, and Port Commissioner John Callahan.

But the weirdest, and most interesting, thing to happen today is the apparent disappearance of Karen Lesetmoe from the Oak Harbor School Board race. In past years, if a candidate withdrew, they still appeared in the list on the VoteWA.gov website, with their listing struck through. Not so for Mrs. Lesetmoe — she’s completely gone from the list. It doesn’t appear to be a change in the website’s policy. We looked at the King County listings and found at least one candidate who had withdrawn, with their listing struck through, highlighted in pink, and with their status set to Withdrawn. We’ve reached out to Mrs. Lesetmoe for comment through her Facebook page, and will report any response here.

UPDATE – May 16, 2023: Eleven more candidates filed today. Some are incumbents running for re-election, such as Oak Harbor School Director Lynn Goebel, facing a challenge from Karen Lesetmoe. Miranda Evans of the Stanwood-Camano School Board, Jack Ng from the Port of South Whidbey will also hit the campaign trail again. Two Hospital District appointees, Morgan Cooper and Greg Richardson, filed to keep their seats. Some of the challengers have familiar faces: Kay Kenneweg, who lost a Langley City Council seat to Harolynne Bobis two years ago, will challenge Chris Carlson for the seat Thomas Gill is vacating. Fred Wilmot is taking a second bite at the apple after having lost an Oak Harbor School Board race to Jessica Aws in 2021. Brit Kraner lost out to Steve McCaslin in the 2021 North Whidbey Pool, Park, and Recreation District (NWPPRD) election. The remaining candidates are newcomers: Phil Snider is contending for the Stanwood-Camano School Board seat currently held by Natalie Hagglund; Jaemee Witmer is seeking Juli Brooks-Leete’s NWPPRD seat; and Liz Reedy is looking to succeed Wendy Cramer at Cemetery District One (Maple Leaf Cemetery). None of the incumbents in those races have yet filed.

UPDATE – May 15, 2023: Monday morning and Friday afternoon are usually the busiest times in Filing Week, and this year is no exception. 28 candidates filed for 23 Island County offices today, with 21 of the filings coming before noon. Most of the filings were expected: either incumbents or candidates who had already announced. One big surprise was Karen Lesetmoe’s entry into the race for Position 1 at the Oak Harbor School District. Ms. Lesetmoe was a first-time candidate last year, running against incumbent State Representative Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor). Her name recognition from that race should server her well in conservative North Whidbey.