In Washington, 17 counties elect their coroner, the person who deals with death investigations. Rep. Jeremie Dufault (R-Yakima) prefiled a bill ahead of the legislative session that would change that and make it so all coroner positions in the state are appointed rather than elected. Dufault says he’ll save the taxpayers money on “unnecessary” elections. 

“Hopefully, you never meet your coroner,” Dufault says, ignoring the reality that we all will die, one day, “and, if you do, it's too late to vote for that person.”

This is a “good governance” thing for Dufault. The state coroner’s association thinks the bill has no pulse.

The cost of putting a coroner on the ballot is negligible, they say. The only place this policy could have a real impact is in Dufault's legislative district, where Yakima County had to recall its coroner because he stole drugs off dead people and then got high while on the job. That drama will lead to two elections in as many years, with the next one coming up in 2026. It’s a blanket policy to address one situation.

Since the biggest counties have appointed medical examiners, many people aren’t aware that coroners are an elected position elsewhere in the state. Annie Pillers, Whitman County’s elected coroner and legislative committee chair for the Washington Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (WACME), believes most people are ignorant about coroners. 

 “People don’t understand what we do,” Pillers says. “We’re not body snatchers.” 

Coroners are the people who determine the cause of death for sudden, suspicious, violent, and unattended deaths and write the death certificates that inform important county statistics. They’re responsible for talking to the families of the deceased, collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and ordering and overseeing autopsies. But they don’t perform them, and aren’t required to be physicians.  

Washington only required death investigators to receive standard training in the last year, a result of years of WACME lobbying. Prior to that, anyone, regardless of training, could do the job. 

In certain counties—those with a population of more than 40,000 and less than 250,000—coroners are elected every four years just like other elected officials. Smaller counties and larger counties can appoint a coroner or a medical examiner. 

Electing coroners in those counties has happened “since the beginning of time,” according to Bill Leach, the elected coroner for Benton County and vice president of WACME. It’s a non-partisan position, but coroners still indicate a party. 

“By law, you have to decide you're going to run as a Democrat, Republican, independent, or with no party preference,” Leach says. Usually, you pick the party preference that aligns with your county if you want to win, he says. That doesn’t change how coroners do their jobs, though. “We don't look in their wallet for a political affiliation.”

Leach believes elected coroners circumvent the nepotistic “good ol’ boy system” of political leaders appointing their friends instead of the best person for the job. “Elected coroners are not beholden to anybody except the voters,” he says. 

Plus, “the cost to put us on the ballot is so negligible, it's not even countable,” he says. 

Counties foot the bills for staff, printing, postage, mailing house costs, mileage for ballot pickup, and more. Those costs will happen regardless of whether a coroner is on the ballot. According to the Lewis County auditor, a county that elects its coroner, the cost per position in the 2022 general election was around $4,800. Skagit County, which has a much larger population and thus processes more ballots than Lewis County, spent $10,100 per position in its 2022 general election. It’s likely the same in all these mid-size counties.

Unless your coroner, say, lifts drugs off of dead bodies, snorts those drugs, lies about it, and gets caught lying. That’s is exactly what former Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtis did last year. An investigation into Curtis found he also wrongly identified a man’s death in police custody as “natural.” A forensic pathologist later changed the cause to “negligent homicide.” The victim’s family is suing the county for $50 million. 

Curtis was understandably recalled, but not before going on paid leave to a rehab facility. The man appointed to fill his spot, Marshall Slight, ran in a special election for the seat this year. He’ll need to run for election again next year when his term ends. 

“The taxpayers of Yakima County have spent a lot of money on hiring a coroner that could have been better spent on dozens of other things,” Dufault says. 

How much? Dufault has no idea, but he’s hoping to have it in hand before the session starts, which seems a bit like putting the coffin before the hearse.

“We do want to be able to provide the relevant committees in the legislature with that information,” he says about the cost data that he doesn’t have for his bill about saving taxpayers money. For what it’s worth, Leach doesn’t think appointments would save counties much money since the hiring process would add up. 

WACME would rather the legislature focus on other priorities to benefit death investigators, like designating them as first responders so they receive post-traumatic stress benefits, Pillers says. Or, funding more forensic pathologists, the people who do autopsies, to address the ongoing shortage.

“Our association does not support this bill by any, any means,” Leach says. Electing a coroner isn’t the expense here, cleaning up after a Jim Curtis-type is. “[Dufault’s] ideas are not bad, just poorly put out there. He sure is a nice guy, though.”