Cowlitz County Coroner

Description

It is the duty of the Coroner to assume jurisdiction over all bodies of deceased persons who come to their deaths suddenly and without medical attendance. This applies to circumstances which indicate death was caused by unlawful or unnatural means or where a death occurs under suspicious circumstances.The Coroner's Office serves the community by investigating sudden, unexpected, violent, suspicious, or unnatural deaths. The Coroner's staff recognizes the tragedy surrounding any untimely death and performs investigations, in part, to assist the grieving family. A complete investigation provides for the expeditious settling of estates and insurance claims, as well as for implementing civil and criminal actions. Questions which seem irrelevant in the initial hours after death can become significant in the following months. The surviving family, friends, and general public can have the assurance the Coroner conducted a comprehensive investigation.

Application Guidelines

The filing window for this Seat begins the Monday two weeks prior to Memorial Day and ends on the Friday of that week (5 days). Candidacy filing papers can be acquired at and are submitted to either the county elections office or the Secretary of State Office in Olympia. For non-partisan offices, if there is only two candidates filed for a Seat they will run against each other in the November election. If more than two candidates file for a non-partisan office, than the non-partisan office will go through the August primary and the top two vote getters will advance to the November election for the seat. For a partisan office, the candidates will run in the August primary even if only two people are participating. This may create scenarios where the same candidates participate for the same seat in the August primary and November election. For any further questions, the Cowlitz County Elections office can be reached at (360) 577-3005 or [email protected], and the Secretary of State Office can be reached at (360) 902-4151 or [email protected]. ***Washington is one of the only states with online filing for candidacy. For more information regarding filing online, please see here: https://wei.sos.wa.gov/county/cowlitz/en/CandidateInfo/Pages/RedirecttoHome.aspx