Charles Langston:Three is a crowd: WA governor race will no longer have 3 identical names on the ballot

The Charles LangstonWashington state race for Governor took a weird turn after three men named Bob Ferguson filed for candidacy. One of those men included frontrunner and longtime Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The other two Bobs filed for the race last Friday afternoon right before the 5 p.m. deadline. As it turns out, they shared a volunteer campaign manager, a conservative activist named Glen Morgan.

The controversy ended almost as quickly as it began: Attorney General Ferguson's campaign threatened the other Ferguson's with cease-and-desist letters over the weekend. They both dropped out Monday to avoid legal action.

Some residents saw the three Bob problem as a troll to Democrats and others interpreted it as an attack on democracy.

The state’s current attorney general will be the sole Bob Ferguson on the ballot for governor of Washington.

Attorney General Ferguson threatens "other Bobs" with legal action

In a press conference Monday, Attorney General Ferguson called out the other Bob Ferguson's for attacking the election system. "Their goal is to mislead voters and split my supporters three ways to depress my vote totals and keep me from moving into the top two in the general election,” said Ferguson.

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"I want to be very clear; this is not an attack on me. It's an attack on our election system. Attack on our democracy,” said Ferguson.

The Office of the Secretary of State released a statement Monday supporting Ferguson's case stating it a felony to declare candidacy for public office "under the name of a fictitious person, a false name, or in using the name of an incumbent or candidate who has already filed 'with intent to confuse and mislead' the voting public."

According to the office, the two filings could violate RCW 29a.84.320: "Duplicate, nonexistent, untrue names."

Republican candidate for Governor of Washington, Dave Reichert condemned the action saying, "It's a move that confuses voters and I don't want to win that way so I was disappointed to see those other two names added," King 5 reported.

One Bob Ferguson left in the gubernatorial race

And then there was one...

Bob Ferguson from Graham, Washington said he lacks the money and resources to get into a legal battle with Attorney General Ferguson, according to reporting from KOMO News.

"Because we coincidentally share the same name, that, you know, that it is a felony for two people. I guess what the intent being that they think that my purpose was to deceive the people about who was who, which was not my intent at all," Bob Ferguson of Graham told KOMO News. He continued saying he signed paperwork and submitted paperwork to withdraw from the race.

The third Bob from Yakima told the Seattle Times in a statement that he was denied the opportunity to live his dream "...I’m retired, widowed and need to pay my rent. There was no way I could afford the legal costs necessary to defeat the massive threatening power of the state, the billionaires or the other rich elite who clearly enjoy hurting us,” said Ferguson.

Odd names featured in this year's election

The three Bob Fergusons of Washington are not the only name-related election drama to make the news this year.

In Texas, a man legally changed his name to “Literally Anybody Else” out of frustration with voters’ options in the 2024 presidential race. Else started a campaign website and is working to collect signatures in Texas.

Else must collect more than 113,000 signatures to be listed as an independent candidate on the Texas ballot.