LWV Snohomish County has been an advocate for voters since our founding over 100 years ago. We are more committed than ever to that goal, which is why LWV Washington has taken the stance of Decline to Sign for Initiative IL26-126. This initiative to the Legislature would bill impose additional requirements on all registered voters - existing and new people registering to vote - requirements that have been demonstrated to be unnecessary and that will reduce the number of voters.
While the issue of unqualified voters is regularly raised by some, extensive searches for real life examples of illegal ballots have turned up almost nothing. Several lawsuits were filed after extensive searches following the 2020 election. Some were withdrawn by the filers before the courts ever ruled and many were dismissed on procedural grounds. There is also a number of cases that went through the court system and were lost because, after a full review of the merits of the case, there was found to be a lack of evidence to support the charges.
Even the few cases where someone has been found guilty of voter crimes are mostly cases of people who misunderstood their status as legally allowed to vote. The conservative Heritage Foundation's database of voter cases in Washington state has only 15 cases between 2004 and 2021. In the largest number of votes - a total of five in 2007 - every single one was related to a criminal conviction or diversion program. This is a very small number of votes.
On the other hand, if passed, the bill will require that people without documents jump through numerous hoops to register. Do you know where your birth certificate is? Does the name on your birth certificate match your current name? It is estimated that this will impact about 1.6 million Washington women whose current name does not match the one on their birth certificate.
Democracy works best when all qualified voters can participate. The number of people that will be disenfranchised by this proposal will definitely outnumber those who have used a ballot erroneously or purposefully. This is an important women's issue.
DECLINE TO SIGN Initiative 126!