This is a back-of-the-ballot race most people skip. Why should I bother voting for it?

I hear this a lot and I get it. When you're looking at a ballot with a presidential race, congressional seats, and school levies all competing for your attention, the County Clerk feels like an afterthought. But here's what I'd ask you to consider.

The Clerk's office touches your life whether you know it or not. Jury duty, court records, protection orders, passport applications — this office handles all of it. Every time a Kitsap County resident interacts with the Superior Court system, they're interacting with our office. That's not a small thing.

And for 30 years, most of these races have gone uncontested. When nobody runs, nobody asks questions. When nobody asks questions, nothing changes. The office becomes invisible to the public and accountable only to the people already inside it. The deficits have been presided and expanded year after year, the same candidates, running in a low information race, are counting on you not to be curious about what you've been voting for.

This is only the third contested race for this seat in nearly three decades. That makes it rare. Your vote here carries more weight than you might think — because most people will skip it entirely. The ones who don't are the ones who decide.

Two seconds at the bottom of your ballot. That's all it takes.