Washington’s 2009 candidates are making it official. It’s Filing Week and so far, a lot of candidates have taken advantage of the option to file online. As of close of business Monday, nearly 700 candidates filed through the Washington Election Information (WEI) system used by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division and 31 of Washington’s 39 counties. There was a rush of activity in the morning, then a lull during lunch, followed by a steady flow from about 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Keep in mind that these are not all of the filing figures statewide so far.)

Click here to see a list of candidates who have filed with the Office of Secretary of State.

Fifteen of the 31 counties using WEI are allowing candidates to file using Self-Service Candidate Filing modules on their Web sites. The self-service modules can be set up to allow people to submit a declaration of candidacy from home (available in Thurston, San Juan, Ferry counties) or as a kiosk in the Auditor’s Office (12 counties are doing it this way).

Most candidates this year are filing for nonpartisan local office. Candidates for legislative, Superior Court and Court of Appeals offices may file with the state while all other filings must be done at County Auditor offices.

Each county should have a list of the filings on their Web page. Links to all county web pages are here . Filing Week concludes Friday, with the online filing deadline at 4 p.m. and the in-person deadline at 5 p.m.