In the summer of 2025, Tom Crowson, a candidate for Lewis County Fire District 5 commissioner, died just before the primary election in August, but too late for his name to be removed from the ballot.
A bill on the floor of the Washington state House of Representatives could prevent the same situation in the future and could have saved Lewis County a costly recount last fall.
House Bill 2574, sponsored by state Reps. Peter Abbarno, R-Chehalis, and Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, would allow a county auditor to remove a person from the ballot of an upcoming election if presented with that candidate's death certificate. To keep things simple, the bill uses a procedure similar to that for removing disqualified candidates.
According to Abbarno, who presented the bill to the House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee, the bill was inspired by the untimely death of Crowson, a popular local candidate for Napavine fire commissioner.
Crowson died July 27, 2025, at the age of 73 and less than two weeks before the primary election for a seat on the Lewis County Fire Protection District 5 Board of Commissioners. Despite passing away roughly three months before the general election, Crowson's name still made it on the ballot, and, with widespread support in November, Crowson nearly won the election posthumously. He lost to competitor Rick LeBoeuf by just one vote.
While some applauded the deceased candidate's election performance and saw the support as an honor and tribute to the well-known community member and long-time local firefighter, Crowson's success also meant a costly state-mandated recount for Lewis County.
“This actually went to a recount, so there were some significant costs incurred by the auditor,” Abbarno said to the House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee. “I think that happens sometimes when you have someone who passes and there’s often some sympathy votes. There's often an affection for a candidate. Even in passing, people will cast their vote. I don't want to discount that, but it also causes some real costs and effort by an auditor in these kinds of cases.”
In Washington state, it is already possible to remove a candidate from a ballot through disqualifying them, but it requires a more involved process, including going to court and holding a hearing to provide evidence of the need for disqualification. According to Abbarno, this process would expedite that, and instead of holding a hearing, simply accept a death certificate to proceed.
“Sadly, when a candidate is deceased and you provide a certified copy of a death certificate, there’s really no evidentiary hearing needed,” Abbarno said. “It would save time, money and effort to do this.”
Crowson, like all local candidates, registered in the spring to put his name on the ballot. He announced he would run for the open seat on the Lewis County Fire Protection District 5 Board of Commissioners. Having previously served on that same board of commissioners and also as a firefighter in the area, he seemed a strong candidate for the position.
However, he passed away at the end of July with the primary election roughly two weeks later in the first week of August 2025. By the time of Crowson’s death, ballots had already been sent to voters and it was too late to remove his name. Whether it was because of his popularity or an example of honoring a passed community member, Crowson went on to be the top vote-getter in the primary by far, hauling in 713 votes and advancing to the general election. LeBoeuf, the next most popular candidate in the primary election, brought in 275 votes.
If the bill proposed by Abbarno and Walsh had already been in place, Crowson could have still earned the primary votes, but his name would have been removed from the general election ballot, allowing voters to choose from the remaining candidates.
The bill also offers multiple courses of action to accommodate different elections and situations like Crowson’s where a candidate dies after ballots with their name have already been ordered and sent to voters.
“It also takes into account, having spoken with the Secretary of State’s Office prior to filing and talking to some of the auditors, we made sure that it also had in mind the idea that this might happen pre-or post-ballot printing,” Abbarno said.
In elections for a position with more than two candidates where a primary election was held, an auditor can remove the deceased candidate from the ballot and advance the third-place candidate to the general election to face off with the other remaining candidate.
If the ballots for the general election have already been ordered or distributed with the name of the deceased candidate, then ballots for that candidate will not be counted.
If a candidate in an election with just two candidates and no primary passes away before the election, a similar process ensues where their name is either removed from the ballot, or, if they have already been ordered, votes for the deceased candidate will not be counted.
