In the era of universal vote-by-mail, ‘dual voting’ has become a common issue in Washington state, but few are aware of it. It’s not publicly discussed by election officials; it’s rarely criminally pursued in court…
Dual voting comes in many forms:
- Individuals voting their own ballot and someone else’s ballot
- Individuals voting 2 ballots in their name
- Individuals voting a WA ballot and another state’s ballot in their name
How on earth does this happen? It’s actually quite straightforward.
- A voter votes and signs their own ballot, then votes and signs someone else’s ballot
Read Prosecutor’s ‘wrist slap’ letters to dual voters here
Read about Pasco voting fraud here
- A voter has a duplicate/second WA registration, receives 2 ballots, votes and signs both
See one county’s single month activity log here
Read Sheriff’s dual voting investigation report here
Read Prosecutor’s letter declining to prosecute here
- A voter is on another state’s roll, receives both a WA ballot and the other state’s ballot, votes and signs both
See an excerpt from the Secretary of State’s Dual Voting Report here
Read an Auditor’s letters to several Dual Voters here
Read a Sheriff’s report about 2 dual voters here
Watch Pacific County’s 90-second public hearing referring 4 voters for dual voting here
County Prosecutors have discretion whether to bring criminal charges. It seems they almost never do so in instances of ‘dual voting’.
The ballot signature verification process isn’t foolproof. Election staff are not forensic handwriting experts with limitless time to scrutinize signatures. If you’ve been an election observer, you cannot help noticing the process is perfunctory.
The Secretary of State is attempting to pilot supplemental verification methods, but we are a long way from definitively preventing dual voting.
See King County Elections’ proposed pilot program here