Secretary of State investigation underscores lack of citizenship verification to vote

A Secretary of State investigation reveals gaps in citizenship verification for voter registration in Washington. Photo courtesy ReElect Steve Hobbs 2024

In Washington state, there is a presumptive right to vote, which means anyone registering to vote need only provide a driver’s license or identification and affirm that they are a citizen legally allowed to participate in elections

TJ Martinell
The Center Square Washington

A recent Secretary of State’s Office investigation of a foreign national being registered to vote by the state underscores what some, including at least one state Department of Licensing employee, consider to be a defect in the state’s election system security.

In Washington state, there is a presumptive right to vote, which means anyone registering to vote need only provide a driver’s license or identification and affirm that they are a citizen legally allowed to participate in elections. No proof of citizenship is required to be provided in order to receive a ballot.

According to emails obtained by The Center Square, SOS Director of Elections Stuart Holmes contacted DOL officials in August to alert them that a foreign national had been registered to vote in Colville by DOL in January while getting a driver’s license replaced.

“We would also like to identify any possible solutions to prevent this from happening in the future that can be deployed at your agency or at the OSOS,” Holmes wrote in his email.

According to DOL emails, the foreign national was a permanent resident with a Social Security number who first obtained a driver’s license in 2021, but had previously marked “no” for their voter registration.

The DOL employee who registered the foreign national wrote in an email that “the customer came in to replace their drivers license and did not provide any additional identification or documentation. I went through the application and ask(ed) the voter registration, had them read the voter’s oath and sign the application. I was not aware they were not a citizen as it was just a replacement application and only photo verification was required.”

In one email, a DOL official weighed in on the incident by writing “this goes back to not being able to verify citizenship on renewals and duplicates because documents are not required.”

Previous investigations by The Center Square has uncovered incidents of foreign nationals either being registered to vote or voting illegally, which U.K.-based Logically AI flagged as part of a SOS Election Misinformation program.

In its report, Logically AI warned that the coverage could “increase claims of voter fraud and motivate individuals to call on election officials to implement citizenship verification procedures for voter registration in Washington State.”

This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.