Julie Wise, King County's elections director since 2016, is on the Nov. 3 ballot seeking a fourth term leading the office that administers elections for Seattle voters and residents across the county.
The race is nonpartisan. Wise is not registered with any political party, according to her candidate materials. No other candidates appear in BallotReady's certified ballot data for this race.
Wise said she joined King County Elections' phone bank 23 years ago to answer voter questions. She rose through the department, working in nearly every area, and became deputy director in 2013, according to her campaign biography. She was first elected director in 2015 and reelected in 2019 and 2023, garnering 84% of the vote in her most recent race, Wise said.
Candidate information
- Office sought: King County Elections Director
- Party: Nonpartisan
- Election: Washington General Election, Nov. 3, 2026
- Ballot status: Certified for the ballot
Experience and public service
- King County Elections: Staff member (2000–2013), deputy director (2013–2016), elected director (2016–present), according to her campaign biography and public election records
- The Election Center: Certified election administrator training (2009, 2015)
Wise said she holds certified election administrator credentials at both the state and national levels. She said she was the first election administrator in the country to invite the Department of Homeland Security to audit her department's ballot processing facility and physical security. She also said she was the first county elections leader in Washington state to ask the state auditor's cybersecurity team to assess the department's cybersecurity.
Under her leadership, King County added 65 ballot drop box locations and seven vote centers, implemented prepaid postage, and added four non-English languages to its full-service language offerings, according to her campaign materials published by Issue One. Wise said she created the Voter Education Fund, a public-philanthropic partnership providing $1 million every two years to community organizations for nonpartisan voter registration and education in historically marginalized communities.
On the issues
Vote-by-mail: Wise said she wants every King County voter to participate and that her department has expanded in-person service, drop box access, and election security.
Election worker safety: Wise said she advocated for Washington's House Bill 1241, which made it a class C felony to threaten an election worker. "We need reliable, federal funding to be able to make sure that our elections facilities can handle things like fentanyl-laced envelopes, active shooter trainings, and security measures like bulletproof glass in front of our elections facilities," she said.
Federal elections funding: "Funding needs to be a regular budget line item," Wise said. "The federal government is the only jurisdiction in Washington state that is not footing the bill for their elections that we are running."
