Current elections chief will join race

Sherril Huff, King County's appointed elections director for the past year and a half, changed her mind and said Monday she will run for the now-elective position.

Huff, who was elected as a Democrat to two terms as Kitsap County auditor, will formally announce her candidacy at a news conference this morning with the man who appointed her to her current job, County Executive Ron Sims.

A number of other hopefuls have either announced their candidacy or said they are considering running in the nonpartisan Feb. 3 election.

Ellen Hansen, chair of the King County Citizens' Election Oversight Committee, said Monday she, too, is running for the job — and won't be deterred by Huff, who she said was entering the race "rather late in the game."

Hansen, who was records and elections manager for four years in the 1980s, was hired by the Metropolitan King County Council in 2003 to study problems in the 2002 election.

Huff's decision to run — something she had said for months she wouldn't do — changes the dynamics of the race, which is taking place without a primary. The filing period is Wednesday through Friday of this week.

A Kitsap County resident, Huff said she is moving to a house in Seattle's Rainier Beach area and would register this morning as a King County voter, making her eligible to run for the post.

"We've built a good solid operation," Huff said of her elections office. "A tremendous amount of work has gone into that. I want to make sure we don't lose good people. I don't think my work is done."

She joined the King County elections office in 2005 when then-director Dean Logan, whom she had mentored in Kitsap County, named her as his assistant. She replaced him when he left to take the top job in Los Angeles County.

King County voters last month approved a citizen-initiated charter amendment that makes the elections director an elected office. Former Republican state Rep. Toby Nixon, citing major problems in the 2004 governor's election, promoted the charter amendment as a way to improve elections by making the director directly accountable to voters.

Nixon's group, Citizens for Accountable Elections, last week gave a dual recommendation to former County Councilmember David Irons and former King County Elections Superintendent Julie Anne Kempf.

Other announced candidates are Chris Clifford, a high-school teacher who is leading an effort to recall Seattle Port Commissioner Pat Davis, and Jason Osgood, co-founder of a group that fights computerized vote-counting systems.

Seattle Port Commissioner Lloyd Hara, former Port Commissioner Alec Fisken, former County Council Chief of Staff Ross Baker and state Sen. Pam Roach also have expressed an interest in running.

Joe Fain, chief of staff to County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer, said Monday he has decided not to run.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com