RNC teams with state GOP to protect signature verification on mail-in balloting in Washington

Washington State enacted legislation in 2005 that allowed all counties to utilize all-mail elections and that system was made mandatory statewide in 2011.

Kim Wyman, Washington’s former Secretary of State and current Biden administration election security official touted Washington’s universal vote-by-mail system, specifically citing signature verification as the "linchpin" of Washington’s election security.

According to the WSRP, plaintiffs represented by left-wing law firm Perkins Coie, who has regularly attacked vote-by-mail safeguards around the country, want to do away with signature matching in a state where it was pioneered and has worked successfully. It has also filed a similar lawsuit in all vote-by-mail Colorado.

Perkins Coie has claimed that signature matching systemically disenfranchises voters, but according to the RNC and WSRP, the claims are baseless.

Officials initially rejected only .72 percent of ballots (30,000 out of approximately 4.2 million cast in the 2020 election because of signature issues. Thousands of those ballots were ultimately counted under the state’s generous "curing" procedure which requires officials to notify voters of the issues and gives them 21 days from election day to fix the issue.

WSRP Chairman Caleb Heimlich told The Ari Hoffman show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that the plaintiff’s efforts were backed by "liberal dark money groups."

Heimlich added in a statement, "Rather than attempt to make changes to the law through the legislature, left-wing groups and their Democrat allies are attempting to do away with the entire verification process through the courts. They have filed a lawsuit attempting to remove signature verification from our election process. This is a blatantly partisan attempt to remove the only security measure our elections have to protect against fraudulent activity."

Heimlich continued, "This is a ludicrous proposition, and we will fight back against this partisan attempt to forever alter our elections. If the Democrats get their way, anyone could fraudulently vote on their neighbor’s ballots and county elections departments will have zero recourse to catch the perpetrators. Voter confidence in our elections is already at an all-time low, and if this lawsuit is successful, it will only further diminish confidence in our elections system. Today we, along with the Republican National Committee (RNC), are filing a motion to intervene in this lawsuit and stop this blatant attempt at rigging our state’s elections."

The lack of signature verification could have implications in federal races as well as local ones.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement, "The RNC is intervening in this case because basic election safeguards matter – especially in Democrat-run states where few guardrails remain. This legal action alongside the Washington State GOP underscores the RNC’s commitment to fighting for election integrity in every corner of America and doing so alongside state parties and grassroots leaders. We are proud to work with Chairman Caleb Heimlich as we fight to protect a crucial integrity procedure in Washington State elections."

Heimlich added that "Democrats have spent years undermining any semblance of election integrity in our state and this latest attack on Washington’s elections by elitist Seattle Democrats is all-to-familiar.'

Hoffman noted, "Washington is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for bad policies. And believe me when I tell you that this is not something that's going to end here in Washington, this is something that other states are going to replicate. Just like the idiot bail reform laws they took from Seattle and implemented in places like New York and elsewhere. This is the kind of thing Democrats are going to try and do nationally."