How the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin plans to cover the election

Visit our Election Center for the latest election news.

Election mission statement:

The Union-Bulletin's goal is to aid voters in understanding elections and making informed decisions through fair, thorough and accurate coverage that centers on local perspectives and issues.

How do you decide what election stories to cover?

We cover the races and measures appearing on the ballot and explain how voting and local elections work and how people can participate.

We prioritize local, contested races in our coverage area, which includes Walla Walla and Columbia counties in Washington and northeast Umatilla County in Oregon. Our focus for 2026 is the race for Congressional District 5; state representative positions in District 16; and local government elections for Walla Walla County sheriff, commissioner, auditor and part-time district court judge, and Columbia County commissioner. We also cover local ballot measures, though there are none for the 2026 primary.

We have a small staff, and sometimes we can't get to stories because of time and resources. We may not cover a story if we can't add anything new to existing reporting, if the story would amplify unhelpful and highly partisan talking points, or if it won't help voters' understanding of the election, a candidate or a critical local issue.

Where do ideas for your election stories come from?

Our election coverage is shaped by the issues appearing on the local ballot, voting deadlines and election processes. We also get tips from readers and sources, news releases from government agencies and campaigns, and we look to see what other area news organizations are writing.

When deciding what to cover, we focus on stories that are timely, relevant to readers, or have a significant impact on how people live, work and are governed in our community. We aim to highlight the experiences and contributions of local residents in our reporting.

For some stories, we'll explain why we wrote it in a note from the editor.

I am a candidate who wants to share information about my campaign. When and where can I send it?

Reach out to us at newsroom@wwub.com to share your campaign materials. We write about candidates who announce their campaign ahead of filing week in early May. During filing week, we cover who has filed for office. We don't do individual candidate announcements once filing week begins.

Candidates in contested races will hear from our reporters for coverage of their race after filing week and before ballots are mailed.

How do you vet the information you get from your sources?

We ask questions and vet information through public documents such as budgets, invoices, personnel files, emails, reports, memos, probable cause affidavits, other court records, and more. We aim to include a variety of views in our reporting, and we know assertions made by some people may not ring true to others. We will always attribute information to the source, whether it is a person, document or study. We also link to information, giving readers the chance to review it themselves.

How do you approach covering candidates?

Candidate profiles and interviews are how we introduce candidates and their qualifications and policy positions to our readers. We ask questions and supply information that will be useful to voters and fair to those running for office.

We reach out to all candidates in a race well before the election and aim to publish our candidate profiles and interviews as voters receive their ballots. We try multiple ways to reach candidates and don't publish responses received after our deadline. If we don't hear back, we use the local voters guide and other publicly available information to supply what we can about a candidate.

We don't cover unopposed races. We cover write-in candidates who have registered their campaign and are actively campaigning.

We also cover campaign finances and election spending.

We don't pursue stories that are not directly related to the candidate's campaign or qualifications or how they would perform in office.

How do you ensure a reporter's bias or an editor's bias does not get into your coverage?

We all have a bias - a way we see the world. We acknowledge that and work to produce reporting that is fair, accountable and transparent.

One way we acknowledge our bias is by having open discussions in our newsroom about how to approach sensitive stories. We discuss our initial options, brainstorm alternatives and consult Union-Bulletin policies and AP Stylebook guidelines for best practices.

When deciding whether or how to cover an issue, we often consult the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. We abide by the SPJ's four principles of ethical journalism: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent.

Most important, it's not one person deciding how to cover a topic. The whole newsroom is involved, and more than one person reviews reporting before it is published.

If we hear from readers that they perceive our bias to be showing through in our reporting, we bring that feedback into our newsroom conversations. We welcome input anytime at newsroom@wwub.com.

How does your affiliation with the Seattle Times Co. affect your election coverage?

Our reporting and editing decisions are made by our newsroom staff members, who all live and work in the Walla Walla Valley. Our election coverage is local. Our parent company sometimes sets goals for our work more generally - encouraging us to produce reporting projects with digital elements, for example - but does not dictate the content of our reporting or influence our news decision-making.

Our reporting focus is local, but we do republish coverage of some national or statewide issues and races that matter to our readers. We republish reporting from the Seattle Times, Associated Press and other news organizations in our region. We also collaborate with other area news organizations, including our sister paper in Yakima, to cover issues that affect the wider region.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 8:38 AM.