At the conclusion of candidate filing, a lot drawing is held to determine the order that candidate names will appear on the official ballot.  The required lot drawing is conducted after the close of business once all filings have been approved.   

Each county performs their own lot drawing for the races in which they are the filing officer. State races will have their ballot order determined by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division. 

All approved candidates will be listed by filing order, which is the date and time of their candidate filing submission. 

The race with the greatest number of candidates will be used to determine the ballot order for all races. One numbered tile per candidate will be placed into a festive drawstring bag.

An Elections staff member will call out the name of the first candidate from the filing order. A second Elections staff member will draw a tile and call out the number on that tile. This number is assigned to that candidate’s ballot order. This process will continue until all candidates have been assigned numbers. The candidate with the lowest number will appear first on the ballot and so on. 

All candidates will receive a notification by mail regarding their ballot order, and will list the election(s) their name will appear on the ballot. Races that go directly to the general election will also be based upon the lot drawing. In races that have a primary, the two candidates that received the most votes will appear on the general election ballot with the top vote-getter listed first.  

The final candidate ballot order will be available at www.clark.wa.gov/elections/candidates promptly after the lot drawing has ended.