The following is a press release from David Ammons, communications director for the Office of the Secretary of State.
Jay Inslee has announced he will resign from his U.S. House seat, effective March 20, and will devote full time to his bid for Washington governor. State Elections Co-Director Katie Blinn said that under the state law dealing with congressional vacancies, there will be no special election, since Inlee’s departure comes after the March 6 deadline for that to occur.
The 1st District seat will be vacant until the winner of the regularly scheduled election is certified on Dec. 6. Filing Week will begin on May 14; a number of candidates already have lined up to run and will face off in a Top 2 Primary with a postmark or ballot dropoff deadline of Aug. 7. The General Election has a postmark or ballot dropoff deadline of Nov. 6. The returns are certified one month later.
State law for U.S. Senate vacancies is different. For a Senate vacancies, the governor has authority to appoint someone to serve until the election is certified.
If Inslee’s departure had been March 6 or earlier, the governor would have had 10 days to pick an election date for a special 1st District primary within the next 70 days, and to fix a special general election within 70 days after the primary. A later vacancy is filled by the regularly scheduled elections.
