All-mail voting since 2011
Every registered voter is mailed a ballot about 18 days before each election. Pierce County was the last county to close its polling places.
🔗 2011 law (SB 5124)
🌲 The Evergreen State
🌲 Washington State: Voter Fraud & Election Integrity
Washington votes entirely by mail, asks for no ID, and registers people automatically. Here is what the courts, prosecutors, auditors, and citizen researchers have documented, with every source one click away.
1,678
illegal votes counted in the 2004 governor's race, which was decided by 133
1,762
fake ACORN voter registrations revoked in King County
216
suspected double votes and dead-voter ballots referred after the 2016 and 2018 elections
48
ballots cast by 13 noncitizens in Clark County alone, none prosecuted
488
ballots damaged when a Vancouver drop box was set on fire in 2024
⏱️ Washington in 60 seconds
Six things every Washington voter should know. Tap a line to see the record and its sources.
- A judge found 1,678 illegal votes in a governor's race decided by 133.Felons, dead people, double voters, and unchecked provisional ballots all counted in 2004. The result stood because no one could prove whom the illegal votes were for. See the evidence →
- Ballots go to every address on the rolls, and the only check is a signature.The State Auditor found that counties apply signature checks very differently. In Pasco, three of four forged ballots were counted in 2024. See the evidence →
- Noncitizens have registered and voted.Clark County records show 13 noncitizens cast 48 ballots, found only because they came forward. State law says a noncitizen registered automatically by a state agency is not treated as claiming citizenship. See the evidence →
- Fraud is proven, but seldom prosecuted.None of the 74 suspected double votes from 2016 was charged. King County sends warning letters for ballots cast in dead voters' names, while Lewis County files felonies. See the evidence →
- Federal investigators are now involved.The Justice Department sued for Washington's voter list, Homeland Security sent agents to investigate voter fraud here, and border officers are questioning green-card holders about voting. See the evidence →
- Proof of citizenship is still not required.Two citizen initiatives and two House bills to require proof of citizenship or bring back in-person voting have not passed. See the evidence →
🗳️ How Washington votes
The rules behind the records below, each linked to the law or the official page.
No ID, only a signature
The signature on the return envelope is compared with the one on file. Voters whose signature is questioned are contacted and can fix it.
🔗 Secretary of StateAutomatic registration
People applying for an enhanced driver's license or ID card are registered automatically unless they decline. Registration otherwise asks only for a sworn statement of citizenship.
🔗 2018 law (E2SHB 2595)Same-day registration
Since June 2019, people can register or change their address in person until 8 p.m. on Election Day and vote the same day. In the 2024 general election, 22,051 people registered in person in the last eight days, and 21,908 of them voted.
🔗 Secretary of State figuresLate ballots still count
Return postage is prepaid. A ballot counts if it is postmarked by Election Day and arrives before the county certifies the results.
🔗 WAC 434-250-120Voting after prison
Since 2022, people convicted of a felony may vote as soon as they are out of prison, even while still under supervision.
🔗 2021 law (HB 1078)🧾 The Washington evidence
25 records, strongest first: 9 proven in court or by admission, and 10 more official findings or charges. Each card opens the full record with its sources, quotes, and any court rulings.
✅ Proven 9 records Conviction, guilty plea, or court ruling
⚖️ Washington's 2004 Governor Race: A Judge Found 1,678 Illegal Votes in an Election Decided by 133
Christine Gregoire became governor after a hand recount put her 129 votes ahead of Dino Rossi, out of more than 2.8 million votes. Rossi had led the first count by 261 and the machine recount by 42. At the election-contest trial, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges found that 1,678 illegal votes had been counted. They included 1,401 votes by felons who were not allowed to vote, 19 ballots cast in the names of dead people, 6 people who voted twice, and 252 provisional ballots that should never have been counted. The illegal votes outnumbered the final margin almost 13 to 1. The judge still let the result stand, because Washington law required proof of whom each illegal vote was for, and only 5 could be traced. He took those 5 off the totals, leaving Gregoire ahead by 133.
⚖️ ACORN Workers Filed More Than 1,800 Fake Voter Registrations in King and Pierce Counties
During a 2006 voter-registration drive, temporary workers for the community-organizing group ACORN made up more than 1,800 registration cards. They copied names from phone books, newspapers and baby-name books, and often used the addresses of Seattle homeless shelters. King County election workers noticed that many cards seemed to be written by the same hand. The county's canvassing board revoked 1,762 registrations. Prosecutors charged seven workers with felonies in July 2007, and guilty pleas and jail sentences followed. ACORN paid King County $25,000 for the investigation and signed a five-year agreement to tighten its procedures. Prosecutors said none of the fake registrations was used to vote.
⚖️ Pasco Landlord Forged Four Former Tenants' 2024 Ballots; Signature Checks Missed Three
Franklin County mailed 2024 general-election ballots to four people who had moved out of a Pasco apartment building. The building's manager, Esperanza 'Hope' Contreras, filled them out, forged the voters' signatures, and turned them in. The county's signature check caught one; the other three were counted. The fraud came to light only when a former tenant who had moved to Hermiston, Oregon, learned that her Washington ballot had already been cast. Contreras admitted voting all four ballots and pleaded guilty to four felony counts. In August 2026 Judge Jackie Stam sentenced her to three months in jail on work release.
🛂 Sumner Man Admitted Voting Illegally in State and National Elections Since 2004 Under a False Identity
Roberto Manzano of Sumner lived under someone else's identity for more than 20 years. In his April 2024 plea agreement in federal court in Tacoma, he admitted using that identity to vote unlawfully in state and national elections since about 2004, falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen each time he voted. He also used it to work for a logistics company, apply for a Small Business Administration loan, and seek a Transportation Security Administration clearance. TSA noticed conflicting information and referred the case to the Diplomatic Security Service. He pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally disclosing a Social Security number, and both sides recommended five months in prison.
⚖️ Pierce County 2020: Five Ballots Cast for Dead Voters Were Counted, and Three People Pleaded Guilty
Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson confirmed that five ballots cast in the names of dead voters in the November 2020 general election were counted before anyone caught them. Once a ballot is separated from its envelope it cannot be traced, so those votes stayed in the results. Prosecutors charged three people, and all three pleaded guilty on August 30, 2021. Russell Hobbs of Bonney Lake had voted for his wife, who died about three months earlier. Tamara Amratis of Puyallup voted for her husband, and Daniel Brewer of Spanaway voted for his 19-year-old son. Each was sentenced to community service.
⚖️ Lewis County Man Convicted of a Felony for Casting His Late Wife's 2020 Ballot
Dennis Herron, 79, of Randle came home from burying his wife Carolyn and cast her ballot in the 2020 presidential election, forging her signature. He admitted it to a sheriff's deputy. He pleaded guilty, and on March 3, 2021 Lewis County Superior Court entered a felony judgment and sentence with no jail time and $600 in costs (case 20-1-01069-21).
⚖️ Paid Petition Gatherer Jailed for Forging Hundreds of Signatures on Washington Ballot Measures
Julie Klein of Marysville, paid up to 75 cents a signature, forged hundreds of names on petitions for Referendum 74 and Initiative 1185 in 2012. State elections staff noticed that the handwriting looked alike: 834 of the 1,001 signatures she turned in for Referendum 74 did not match the voters' signatures on file. Her sheets were thrown out before they could count, and the Secretary of State sent the case to the State Patrol. She pleaded guilty, and on August 12, 2014 Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Anita Farris sentenced her to six months in jail on work release.
⚖️ Camano Island Mother Became a Felon for Forging Her Absent Son's 2008 Presidential Ballot
Susan Risenhoover's son had moved to Texas in June 2008, but his Washington ballot still came to the family home. She was not a registered voter herself. She filled out his ballot for the 2008 presidential election, forged his name, and sent it to the Island County Auditor. Staff saw that the signature did not match his registration card, so the ballot was not counted and the sheriff's office took the case. She pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court to being an unqualified person voting, a felony, and was sentenced to 40 hours of community service in place of five days in jail, plus $1,217 in court costs.
📇 A Federal Way Woman Registered Her Dog to Vote Using Only a Phone Bill
To show how easy it was to register someone who could not legally vote, Jane Balogh of Federal Way put her phone bill in her dog's name, Duncan M. MacDonald, and used it to register him as a King County absentee voter in 2006. Ballots arrived in the dog's name for the September and November 2006 elections and a May 2007 election. She wrote 'VOID' on them and signed the envelopes with a paw print, so no votes were cast. She said she was protesting a 2005 state registration law that, in her view, makes it too easy for noncitizens to vote. King County charged her with making a false statement to a public official. Under a September 2007 deal she did 10 hours of community service and paid $240, and the charge was dismissed a year later.
🏛️ Official 10 records Government finding, data, lawsuit, or action
🛂 Clark County Records: 13 Noncitizens Cast 48 Ballots, One of Them 28 Times, and None Was Prosecuted
Public records obtained by The Center Square show that from January 1999 to February 2023, 13 noncitizens cast 48 ballots in Clark County. Nine had been registered through the Department of Licensing, three on a Secretary of State form, and one online. One of them voted 28 times from 2000 until being removed from the rolls in 2019. The county learned of every case only because the noncitizens themselves asked for their voting history while applying for citizenship. None was prosecuted. The Clark County prosecutor has charged just three people for ineligible or double voting, and two of them were sent to a diversion program.
📬 State Auditor: Signature Checks on Mail Ballots Vary Widely, and Some Counties Accept 'Less Conclusive' Signatures
Washington voters show no ID to vote by mail. The only check on a returned ballot is a comparison of the signature on its envelope with the voter's registration signature. The State Auditor's performance audit of the 2020 general election found that counties applied that check very differently. Ballots in some counties were four to seven times more likely to be rejected than similar ballots elsewhere. Two counties were 18 times more likely to reject for a signature mismatch. Auditors found that 'counties with lower rejection rates appeared more willing to accept less conclusive signatures.' Statewide, 0.72 percent of ballots were rejected, fewer than 30,000 of about 4.2 million, not counting late ballots.
🏛️ The Justice Department Sued Washington for Its Voter List; Secretary Hobbs Refused, and a Judge Dismissed the Case
On September 8, 2025, the Justice Department asked Washington for its full statewide voter list, including the private identifiers used to match records. It said it needed them to check the state's compliance with federal voter-list maintenance law (the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act). Secretary of State Steve Hobbs refused on September 23 and offered only a list without birth dates, driver's license numbers or partial Social Security numbers. The department sued on December 2, 2025 (United States v. Hobbs, Western District of Washington). On September 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson dismissed the case with prejudice. Sixteen states, all led by Republicans, have said they will hand over their full lists.
📜 No ID for Mail Ballots: Washington Efforts to Require Proof of Citizenship Have Not Passed
Washington voters show no ID with a mail ballot; the envelope signature is compared with the registration signature. People registering to vote swear that they are citizens, but they do not have to prove it. Rep. Jim Walsh, chairman of the state Republican Party, filed Initiative IL26-126 in May 2025. It would have required an enhanced driver's license or ID card, or documentary proof of citizenship shown in person, to register and to stay registered. It fell short of the 308,911 signatures needed by January 2, 2026. A second version, Initiative IP26-500, missed the July 2, 2026 deadline. In the Legislature, House Bill 1585 (citizenship verification for voter registration) and House Bill 1584 (ending universal vote-by-mail and restoring polling places) have sat in committee since January 2025.
🏛️ Washington Sued to Block President Trump's Election Orders on Citizenship Proof and Late-Arriving Ballots
Washington counts mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and arrive afterward, as long as they arrive before the results are certified. President Trump's March 2025 Executive Order 14248 called for documentary proof of citizenship on the federal registration form and for ballots to be received by Election Day. Washington and Oregon sued. On January 9, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Chun permanently blocked five sections of the order and declared that both states' ballot-receipt deadlines are not preempted by federal law; the government appealed. A second order in March 2026 directed the Postal Service not to deliver mail ballots for states that refuse to hand over their lists of mail voters, and a federal judge blocked it in June. On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Watson v. Republican National Committee that federal law allows states to count ballots postmarked by Election Day.
📇 A Man Who Voted in Both Washington and Oregon Had His Conviction Thrown Out; the Legislature Closed the Gap
In summer 2022 a man moved from Oregon to Lewis County and was automatically registered to vote when he got a Washington driver's license. That November he returned both a Washington ballot and an Oregon ballot, and he was convicted of a felony for voting in both states. In January 2026 the Court of Appeals reversed the conviction 2-1. It ruled that state law was ambiguous because the two ballots had no candidates in common. The Legislature then made it a felony to vote in Washington and in another state in the same election cycle. The bill was requested by Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, passed the House unanimously and the Senate 43-1, and was signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on March 17, 2026.
📬 King County Sent Warning Letters, Not Charges, for 22 Ballots Cast in Dead Voters' Names in 2020
In the November 2020 election, King County Elections sent prosecutors 22 suspicious ballots cast in the names of people who had died before ballots were mailed. Since 2007, Prosecutor Dan Satterberg's office has usually sent warning letters instead of filing charges in such cases, and it mailed these letters about two years later, in October 2022. A KING 5 investigation found that only 42 voter-related criminal cases were filed in all of Washington from 2007 to 2022. King County, with more than 1.3 million voters, charged nine in 15 years, while far smaller Lewis County charged eight.
📇 216 Suspected Double Votes and Dead-Voter Ballots After 2016 and 2018; Prosecutors Charged None of the 2016 Cases
A five-state comparison of voter records with Oregon, Colorado, Maryland and Delaware found 74 Washington voters who may have voted in two states, voted twice in Washington, or voted a dead person's ballot in the 2016 general election. Secretary of State Kim Wyman sent the cases to county prosecutors in September 2017, but none was charged. King County, where most of the cases were, found that 10 of its 18 people really had voted twice and sent them warning letters. After the 2018 election Wyman's office found 142 more suspected cases of voting in two places or with a dead person's ballot, and turned them over to county auditors in May 2020.
🛂 Washington Law: A Noncitizen Registered Automatically by a State Agency Is Not Treated as Claiming Citizenship
Washington's 2018 automatic voter registration law (E2SHB 2595) added a section, RCW 29A.08.370, for the 'rare occasion' when a person who is not eligible to vote is registered anyway. It covers the automatic process at the Department of Licensing and the Health Benefit Exchange. Unless the person knowingly broke the registration law, the registration is 'deemed to have performed an authorized act' and 'may not be considered as evidence of a claim to citizenship.' If that person then votes, he or she is not guilty of illegal voting unless he or she knew of being ineligible. The registration or vote record is removed, and the Secretary of State and the agency are to find out how it happened.
📬 King County 2004: A Falsified Ballot Report, Uncounted Ballots, and Thousands More Ballots Than Voters
Washington law requires counties to reconcile the absentee ballots returned with those accepted and rejected. In 2004 King County could not tell how many had come back. Absentee supervisor Nicole Way testified that she and assistant superintendent Garth Fell produced a report that showed a perfect match by simply adding the accepted and rejected ballots together. Ballots kept turning up after the count: 573 wrongly rejected absentee ballots in December 2004, and 96 uncounted absentee ballots found after certification. The county's list of people who voted was 3,539 names short of the number of ballots it certified. An outside law-firm investigation in August 2005 blamed Way, and Elections Director Dean Logan moved to fire her. It also found a belief among some staff that it was 'not fatal or crucial if the vote count was not completely accurate.'
🔍 Under Investigation 4 records Open official investigation
🛂 Federal Agents Question Canadian Green-Card Holders in Whatcom County About Illegal Voting
In September 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers began asking Canadian permanent residents who live in Washington whether they had ever voted. Point Roberts resident Paige Adamson was held and questioned for six hours on September 15. She was given a notice to appear in immigration court on two charges: falsely claiming U.S. citizenship and voting illegally. Public Washington voter data show she voted in past elections, including the 2020 presidential primary, though she says she does not remember doing so. Blaine immigration attorney Len Saunders says others have been questioned too, including a nurse from Blaine and a Snohomish County man. These are civil immigration cases, not criminal charges.
🏛️ Homeland Security Sent Agents to Investigate Voter Fraud in Washington; the Justice Department Warned State Election Officials
On July 7, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent Washington's Secretary of State and election officials a seven-page letter. It warned that they could be held criminally liable if they knowingly keep noncitizens on the voter rolls or help noncitizens receive and cast ballots, and gave them five days to explain how they comply. In late August, CNN reported that Homeland Security Investigations had assigned an 'unprecedented number of agents' to voter-fraud cases in nine states, Washington among them, from early September to mid-October. DHS says its SAVE citizenship checks have flagged more than 24,000 potential noncitizens on voter rolls nationwide. Secretary Hobbs says Washington will not use SAVE, and in September Franklin County asked the state for written permission to run its own check.
📬 Nearly 400 Undelivered King County Ballots Were Found in a Box Beside a Renton Dumpster
In April 2026 a citizen found a heavy box on the ground next to a dumpster behind a Renton strip mall. It was full of King County ballots, and he took it to Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh. Walsh said it held a little under 400 ballots that had never reached the voters: many from the 2024 general election, others from 2022, 2023 and 2025. Most were addressed to people who use private mailbox businesses. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service took custody and is investigating with the Renton Police Department, and the FBI is involved. Walsh said the find proves 'the lack of security of tracking where ballots are at each stage in their travels.'
📬 An Arsonist Burned Hundreds of Ballots in a Vancouver Drop Box a Week Before the 2024 Election
Between 2 and 4 a.m. on October 28, 2024, incendiary devices were placed on ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The Vancouver box at the Fisher's Landing transit center caught fire. Clark County identified 488 damaged ballots and could not identify 6 others; some may have burned to ash. A device had also been placed on a Vancouver drop box on October 8. The FBI, which offers a reward of up to $25,000, is still seeking the suspect: a white man about 30 to 40 years old with thinning hair, driving an early-2000s dark Volvo S60 with a fake temporary Washington license plate.
📣 Claim 2 records Reported; original source not yet archived
📇 Citizen Canvasses and Voter-Roll Studies Found Thousands of Questionable Washington Registrations
After 2020, volunteers in several Washington counties compared the public voter list with Postal Service change-of-address and Social Security death records, then knocked on doors. In Skagit County the county Republican Party reported 1,530 'anomalies' from more than 3,000 doors. They included over 830 voters who had cast a ballot from an address where they did not live, and at least 43 dead people credited with voting. In Clark County, the Washington Voter Research Project found that 616 of 1,213 voters it checked (50.8 percent) had moved but were still registered at their old address. Of those, 66 voted in 2020 after moving out more than 30 days earlier. A 2020 Judicial Watch study found 13 Washington counties with more registered voters, counting inactive ones, than adult citizens. When Skagit Republicans filed 27 formal challenges in 2023, the county upheld 8.
🗳️ Washington Election Integrity Coalition United Sued Eight Counties for a Forensic Audit of 2020 Ballots
Washington Election Integrity Coalition United (WEICU), led by Tamborine Borrelli of Gig Harbor, filed lawsuits in 2021 in eight counties: Whatcom, Clark, Snohomish, King, Thurston, Pierce, Lincoln and Franklin. It also sued in the Washington Supreme Court. The county suits claimed that about 6,000 votes were 'flipped' and more than 400,000 'added or removed' in statewide races, and asked courts to unseal the 2020 ballots for a full forensic audit like Arizona's. Twenty-eight Snohomish County residents joined as their own lawyers. The courts never weighed the evidence: a federal judge dismissed five county cases because the plaintiffs lacked standing, and ruled that ballots and ballot images are exempt from public-records requests.
📅 Washington timeline
From the 2004 governor's race to this fall's federal investigations, newest first.
✅ What you can do in Washington
Your rights under state law, with the law or official page behind each one.
Check your registration and ballot
Sign in at VoteWA to see whether your ballot was sent, received, and accepted. If someone else voted your ballot, tell your county elections office right away.
🔗 VoteWA.govWatch the count
County auditors must invite the major parties to appoint observers, and may invite campaigns and other groups. Ask your party or your county elections office how to volunteer.
🔗 RCW 29A.40.100Get the voter list
Anyone may get the current list of registered voters at copying cost and use it for any political purpose, but not for advertising or fundraising mail.
🔗 RCW 29A.08.720Report suspected fraud
Tell your county auditor. The law says the auditor must pass suspicions to the canvassing board and the county prosecutor, who 'shall file charges in all cases where warranted.'
🔗 RCW 29A.84.010Challenge a bad registration
Any registered voter may challenge another registration in the same county, based on personal knowledge and a sworn affidavit. A challenge about where someone lives also needs a certified letter to that voter.
🔗 RCW 29A.08.810Call your legislators
Ask where your senator and representatives stand on House Bill 1585 (citizenship checks for registration) and House Bill 1584 (in-person voting).
🔗 Find your legislatorsFind your county elections office
All 39 county elections offices, with addresses and phone numbers.
🔗 County officesVote informed
The site owner's Washington voter guides cover the candidates and measures on your ballot.
🔗 Washington voter guides📣 Washington voices
The Washington groups, reporters, and state offices behind these records, plus 6 national groups whose work appears here.
Washington State Republican Party
Chairman Jim Walsh
Sponsored the 2025 and 2026 proof-of-citizenship initiatives, sued King County in 2024 over 2,092 primary ballots whose signatures were fixed through a private online tool, and made public the undelivered ballots found in Renton in 2026.
Washington Election Integrity Coalition United (WEiCU)
Director Tamborine Borrelli
Citizen group that asked for the 2020 ballots under the Public Records Act, sued eight counties for a forensic audit, and opposed the 2023 bill to exempt ballot images from public records.
Washington Voter Research Project
Founded by Glen Morgan in 2021
Volunteers compare the public voter list with change-of-address and death records, knock on doors to confirm what they find, and report problems to county auditors.
Bonney Lake group that publishes county-by-county canvass reports for Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Kitsap, Kittitas, Mason, Skagit, and Spokane counties.
Washington watchdog who files campaign-finance complaints with the Public Disclosure Commission and founded the Washington Voter Research Project.
Jason Rantz
The Jason Rantz Show, Seattle Red 770 AM
Seattle talk-show host who covers Washington's election fights. In November 2025 Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told his show she would sue Washington for its voter rolls.
Ari Hoffman
The Ari Hoffman Show, 570 KVI · The Post Millennial
Seattle talk-show host and reporter who covered the Renton ballots and Washington's voter-ID initiatives.
Statewide news service whose public-records reporting found 13 noncitizens who had voted in Clark County.
Washington Secretary of State, Elections Division
Secretary Steve Hobbs
Runs VoteWA, the statewide voter list, publishes annual election reports, and refers suspected double voters to the counties. Its own statements are quoted in the Washington records.
Its 2022 performance audit found that county signature checks on mail ballots vary widely.
📄 Washington documents archived here
16 court rulings, laws, audits, reports, and news copies, saved on this site so they cannot disappear.
- Washington ESSB 5499 (2005): election reforms after the 2004 governor race
76.9 KB - Judge Bridges' oral decision in the 2004 governor election contest (1,678 illegal votes)
43.4 KB - Seattle Times: seven ACORN workers charged in Washington's biggest registration-fraud case
145.5 KB - Skagit Valley Herald: Camano Island woman convicted of forging her son's ballot
222.6 KB - Judicial Watch voter-roll study, October 2020 (13 Washington counties over 100%)
1.3 MB - State v. Herron, Lewis County Superior Court: felony judgment for casting a late wife's ballot
727.5 KB - Skagit County Voter Integrity Project canvass report (1,530 anomalies)
1.3 MB - Washington State Auditor: Evaluating Washington's Ballot Rejection Rates (2022)
1.8 MB - Washington Voter Research Project: Clark County canvass report (616 of 1,213 voters moved)
7.8 MB - Washington Secretary of State: 2024 Annual Elections Report
1.5 MB - Washington Supreme Court, Vet Voice Foundation v. Hobbs (signature verification upheld)
699.5 KB - DOJ complaint: United States v. Hobbs (Washington's statewide voter list)
1.3 MB - Washington and Oregon v. Trump: order on Executive Order 14248
564.1 KB - Washington Secretary of State: 2025 Annual Elections Report (5,470,163 registered voters)
6.2 MB - U.S. Supreme Court, Watson v. Republican National Committee (ballots postmarked by Election Day)
268.6 KB - United States v. Hobbs: order dismissing the voter-list lawsuit
261.6 KB
❓ Washington questions
Is voter fraud really a problem in Washington?
The Secretary of State counts five fraud cases from 2008 to 2025, out of 90 million ballots. Cases that are never charged cannot show up in a count like that. No prosecutor charged any of the 74 suspected double votes from 2016. King County answered 22 ballots cast in dead voters' names with warning letters, and none of the 13 noncitizens who voted in Clark County was prosecuted. Washington's own courts also found 1,678 illegal votes in a single 2004 race.
Do I need ID to vote in Washington?
No, not to vote by mail. The signature on your return envelope is compared with the signature in your registration record. To register, you swear that you are a U.S. citizen, but you do not have to prove it.
What should I do with a ballot for someone who does not live here?
Do not fill it out or throw it away. Write 'Return to sender' on it and put it back in the mail, or take it to your county elections office. The Pasco case began with ballots mailed to former tenants.
How can I tell whether my own ballot was counted?
Sign in at VoteWA.gov and look at your ballot status, or call your county elections office. If your ballot shows as received but you did not send it, report it at once.
Why does Washington count ballots that arrive after Election Day?
State rules count a ballot that is postmarked by Election Day and arrives before certification. A federal judge blocked President Trump's order requiring receipt by Election Day for Washington and Oregon, and in June 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law allows such deadlines. Late postmarks were still the top reason ballots were rejected in the August 2024 primary.
What did the 2004 governor's race change?
It led to the 2005 election reforms: provisional ballots must look different, counties must reconcile ballots with voters and publish the numbers, and the state may screen voter lists for felons. It also showed how a court can find illegal votes and still leave the result in place.