Overnight Line at the Courthouse as Washington’s New Primary Law Meets Its First Test
Candidates camped outside the Stevens County auditor’s office to file for office—and Newport-area races split three ways before the votes were even cast.
Friday was the first day under which filings for nomination at the primaries could be made, and the auditor’s office at Colville was a busy place for a time. Beginning the day before and all night long a line of men waited outside the door of the office for the time when they could make the filings.
Following is the list of nominations filed to date and the order in which they were received: W. Lin Johnson, Republican, Chewelah, county clerk; T. J. Turk, Republican, Chewelah, sheriff; D. H. Carey, Northport, superior judge; F. F. Bottorf, Republican, Rice, assessor; L. E. Jesseph, Republican, Colville, auditor; Walter D. Bell, Republican, Colville, sheriff; May T. Noble, Republican, Dunn, county superintendent; B. A. Cure, Republican, Clayton, commissioner Third district; J. H. King, Republican, Colville, auditor; W. Sutherland, Republican, Newport, commissioner Third district; W. W. Bryant, Republican, Daisy, commissioner First district; John B. Slater, Colville, judge of superior court; Geo. A. Allen, Colville, judge of superior court; Frank S. Maxwell, Republican, Lenora, commissioner Third district; R. D. Anderson, Republican, Penrith, commissioner Third district; A. B. Cook, Republican, Colville, coroner; Leo H. King, Republican, Newport, county superintendent; Louis L. Tower, Democrat, Northport, county engineer; Wm. M. Manning, Republican, Colville, county engineer; Chas. Adams, Republican, Colville, county treasurer; Clair Hunt, Republican, Colville, county clerk; Al Lynch, Democrat, Colville, sheriff; Daisy Leona Hard, Democrat, Colville, county superintendent; L. C. Thomas, Republican, Ryan, assessor; H. G. Kirkpatrick, Republican, Colville, prosecuting attorney; J. A. Rochford, Democrat, Colville, county attorney; Henry R. Spedden, Republican, Colville, state representative.
There are four candidates for commissioner from the Third district, three of whom—Dr. Sutherland, of Newport; R. D. Anderson, of Penrith; and F. S. Maxwell, of Lenora—are from this side of the county. A peculiarity of the law is that the whole county will vote on the commissioners from each district, and unless some arrangement is perfected whereby the East side can unite on one candidate, we are very apt to be left out when the votes are counted.
“Beginning the day before and all night long a line of men waited outside the door of the office for the time when they could make the filings.”
Washington’s 1908 primary law was sold as a way to take nominations out of the hands of party bosses; the overnight scramble shows both the promise and the chaos of that reform. The same math still haunts local elections: when several candidates from one region split the vote, a countywide electorate can leave that region without a voice. Newport readers in 1908 were being warned to unite before the primary, a calculation familiar to any rural district trying to hold a seat against a county-seat majority.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.