Eric Lynch defends Washington’s voting system amid criticism

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

I am writing because Bill Bruch’s August opinion piece on Washington’s voter rolls is being widely shared in my county, and it deserves a fact-based response. While Mr. Bruch raises serious concerns, his conclusions are partisan, misleading, and risk undermining public trust in elections by exaggerating problems far beyond reality.

First, let’s look at the numbers. Mr. Bruch cited a claim from Glen Morgan that “1 in 7 Washington voters are illegal under federal law,” extrapolating that to more than 700,000 supposedly invalid registrations. That claim simply is not true. The Washington Secretary of State’s office has clarified that the actual number of registered voters missing a driver’s license or Social Security record in the database is fewer than 13,000 statewide: a fraction of one percent of our nearly 5 million registered voters. And most of those are older voters who registered before federal law began requiring ID checks in 2002. In other words: clerical gaps in old records, not “illegal voters.”

Second, the op-ed takes data anomalies and rebrands them as fraud. Volunteer “canvassing” efforts that claimed 40% – 200% anomalies are not reliable audits. They typically flagged things like people who moved, changed names, or were away when volunteers knocked on doors. That doesn’t mean those voters are fake. Official post-election audits and bipartisan checks have consistently shown Washington elections to be secure, accurate, and free of widespread fraud.

Third, the claim that “if non-citizens can get a driver’s license, they will automatically be registered to vote” is false. Washington’s Automatic Voter Registration system requires an attestation of citizenship, and knowingly registering or voting as a non-citizen is already a felony. Errors are exceedingly rare, and when they do happen, they are corrected.

Fourth, Mr. Bruch portrays Washington’s mail-in voting as “not secure.” That ignores years of bipartisan audit data confirming otherwise. Every ballot is signature-verified, logged, and subject to multiple layers of security. Mail delivery issues happen occasionally, but they are monitored and mitigated. Suggesting our entire system is insecure undermines confidence without evidence.

Finally, the op-ed pushes Initiative IL26-126, which would require documentary proof of citizenship for all voters, even those who have been registered and voting for decades. While this may sound simple, in practice it would strip thousands of legal voters of their rights if they lack access to documents like a passport, certified birth certificate, or naturalization papers. Rural voters, seniors, students, and lower-income residents would be most affected. That is not election integrity – that is voter suppression.

The truth is this: Washington’s elections are already secure. Our rolls are constantly updated, errors are corrected, and multiple audits confirm that fraud is vanishingly rare. Exaggerating minor clerical gaps into hundreds of thousands of “illegal voters” is not responsible reporting: it is partisan messaging designed to erode trust and push a policy agenda.

We should always strive to improve our election system. But improvement should mean making voting both secure and accessible for every eligible citizen. Fear-mongering about “illegal voters” may serve partisan goals, but it does nothing to strengthen democracy.

For the sake of our communities, I urge readers to seek facts from official, nonpartisan sources such as the Secretary of State’s office, and to resist narratives that cast doubt on free and fair elections without evidence. Washington’s system works, and we should protect it.

Eric Lynch
Washington state