Every number and factual claim on this site should be traceable to a public source. Rather than clutter each page with footnotes, we list the sources here, page by page, with the date we last checked them. If a figure cannot be verified, it comes down. If you find one we missed, tell us; corrections are published, not quietly edited.
All sources below were last checked on October 25, 2026. Where a source has since revised a figure, the source wins and this site is updated.
The national figures on The Problem come from one source: Ballotpedia’s annual analysis of uncontested elections. Ballotpedia counts an election as uncontested when the number of candidates on the ballot is less than or equal to the number of seats. Its analysis covers offices at every level except the presidency, with comprehensive coverage in 26 states (Washington among them) and partial coverage elsewhere.
| Claim | Source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 38,609 elections across 49 states in 2025; 26,318 (68%) uncontested | “Throughout 2025, Ballotpedia covered 38,609 elections across 49 states. Of that total, 26,318 (68%) were uncontested.” Page last updated January 5, 2026. | Ballotpedia, Analysis of uncontested elections, 2025 |
| Second-highest rate since 2018; eight-year average 64% | “On average, between 2018 and 2025, 64% of elections covered by Ballotpedia were uncontested, ranging from a low of 49% in 2021 to a high of 70% in 2024.” | Same page, “Historical comparison” |
| The count is conservative | “It is likely that this analysis underestimates the actual number of uncontested elections.” Some states cancel uncontested races so they never appear on a ballot, and the analysis “does not include elections where no candidates filed to run.” | Same page, “Limitations” |
| Office table: cemetery 91%, water 87%, local judges 78%, school boards 61%, mayors 60%, city councils 53% | November 4, 2025 general election, 13,980 elections in 30 states, 60% uncontested. Cemetery 90 of 99; Water 216 of 248; Local Judge 173 of 222; Board of Education 1,490 of 2,451; Mayor 1,066 of 1,779; City council 3,645 of 6,850. | Same page, “November general,” table by office type |
| Illinois highest at 83%; Oklahoma lowest at 11% (states with 100+ elections covered) | Illinois 10,301 of 12,428 (82.9%). Oklahoma 54 of 489 (11.0%). Ballotpedia notes Oklahoma cancels uncontested elections, so its figure understates. | Same page, state table; Ballotpedia News, May 2, 2025 |
| Washington | 3,221 elections covered in 2025; 2,110 (65.5%) uncontested. On November 4, 2025: 2,958 elections, 2,076 (70%) uncontested. | Same page, state tables |
| Elections decided by ten votes or fewer | “Since 2018, there were 660 elections decided by 10 or fewer votes. Of those 660 elections, 394 were determined by fewer than five votes, including 94 decided by a single vote.” Updated October 2025. | Ballotpedia, Elections decided by 10 votes or fewer |
One caution. Ballotpedia also publishes a separate school board study (187 districts, 29 states) that counts 36% of 2025 school board seats as unopposed across all stages of the election. It uses a different method from the 61% figure above and the two should not be compared. School board election data analysis, 2025.
Filing rules on The Problem, How to Run for Office, and Students & Under 25 come from the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) and the state constitution, read on the Legislature’s own site. Confirm every deadline with your county elections office before you rely on it.
| Claim | Source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Filing week is the first Monday in May through that Friday | Declarations are filed “no earlier than the first Monday in May and no later than the following Friday,” 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. | RCW 29A.24.050 |
| Filing fee is 1% of the annual salary | “A filing fee equal to one percent of the annual salary of the office at the time of filing.” | RCW 29A.24.091(1) |
| $10 flat fee for offices paying $1,000 a year or less | For an office with a “fixed annual salary of one thousand dollars or less,” “a filing fee of ten dollars shall accompany the declaration of candidacy.” No fee for precinct committee officer or per-diem offices. | Same |
| Petition instead of the fee: one signature per dollar | A candidate “without sufficient assets or income” may file a petition signed by registered voters of the jurisdiction “equal in number to the dollar amount of the filing fee.” | Same, subsection (4); petition form, RCW 29A.24.101 |
| You must be a registered voter in the district | A candidate must “be a registered voter and possess the qualifications specified by law for persons who may be elected to the office,” and be “properly registered to vote in the geographic area represented by the office.” | RCW 29A.24.075 |
| Voters, and therefore candidates, must be 18 | “All persons of the age of eighteen years or over who are citizens of the United States and who have lived in the state, county, and precinct thirty days immediately preceding the election … shall be entitled to vote at all elections.” | Washington Constitution, art. VI §1 |
| Some offices add requirements | Supreme and superior court judges must have been admitted to practice law in this state (art. IV §17). A prosecuting attorney must be a qualified elector of the county and “admitted as an attorney and counselor of the courts of this state.” | Washington Constitution, art. IV §17; RCW 36.27.010 |
| 16- and 17-year-olds can sign up as future voters | “A person may sign up to register to vote if he or she is sixteen or seventeen years of age.” The registration becomes active when the person is eligible. | RCW 29A.08.170; VoteWA.gov |
| Washington requires a stand-alone civics course | Districts “must provide a mandatory one-half credit stand-alone course in civics for each high school student,” beginning with or before the 2020–21 school year. | RCW 28A.230.094 |
| Claim | Source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Hamilton was 30 at the Constitutional Convention | Born 1757, Nevis, British West Indies (some historians give 1755). | National Archives; Teaching American History, ages of the delegates |
| James Madison was 36 | Born 1751, Port Conway, Virginia. | National Archives |
| Edward Rutledge, 26, was the youngest signer of the Declaration | Born November 23, 1749; “the youngest of the signers.” | National Park Service |
| Jonathan Dayton, 26, was the youngest signer of the Constitution | Born 1760, Elizabethtown, New Jersey; “the youngest of the signers.” | National Park Service; National Archives |
| Lafayette was a major general at 19 | Joined the Continental Army at nineteen as a volunteer major general in the summer of 1777 (commission dated July 31, 1777). | George Washington’s Mount Vernon |
| Two phrases of our Preamble are adapted from the American Legion Preamble (1919) | The Legion’s Preamble, adopted at the St. Louis Caucus in May 1919, includes “to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation.” | The American Legion, Preamble (PDF) |
| Claim | Source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Washington nonprofit corporation, established 2026 | Articles of Incorporation issued by the Secretary of State, effective August 12, 2026. UBI 606 274 233. | WA Corporations & Charities Filing System (search the UBI) |
| Seeking 501(c)(3) recognition; if granted, generally retroactive | An organization is treated as exempt from its formation date only if it files Form 1023 “within 27 months from the end of the month in which it was organized”; otherwise “only for the period after the application is received.” | IRS, Application/notice requirement |
| Dues are not tax-deductible until recognition is granted | Contributions are deductible only when made to a qualified organization. | IRS Publication 526 |
| Administration limited to 7% of revenue, with an $8,000 floor | Administrative expenses are “not [to] exceed in any fiscal year the greater of seven percent of the League’s revenue for that year or eight thousand dollars.” Any year the goal is exceeded must be explained to members with a plan to return to it. | Bylaws (signed October 17, 2026), Art. VIII §4 |
| Nonpartisan by bylaw; Article I can be changed only by a supermajority of the full membership | Article I “may be amended only by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of all members entitled to vote … after not less than sixty days’ written notice.” | Bylaws (signed October 17, 2026), Art. I §§1, 6 |
| A board seat is reserved for a member aged 18 through 30 | At least one director who “had attained eighteen years of age and had not attained thirty-one years of age” on the date of election. | Bylaws (signed October 17, 2026), Art. V §2 |
| Associates may enroll free, without a vote | Associates “are not members, do not vote,” and may convert to membership at any time. | Bylaws (signed October 17, 2026), Art. III §9 |
| Other bylaw amendments | Two-thirds of votes cast by members, with the exact text sent at least twenty days before the vote. | Bylaws (signed October 17, 2026), Art. XIV §1 |
| Washington charitable-solicitation registration exemption | The exemption applies below $50,000 in an accounting year when all activities, including fundraising, are carried on by unpaid volunteers and the statutory private-benefit conditions are met. | RCW 19.09.081(1) |
Statements about our own programs, prices, and calendar are the League’s own and need no outside source. Where a figure is a target rather than a result, the page says so.