Opinion: Auditor Kimsey signals mail-in voting may no longer be safe

🎧 Kimsey Shifts on Mail-In Voting: A Closer Look

Rob Anderson says Auditor Greg Kimsey recently encouraged area voters not to rely on the U.S. Postal Service to return their ballots

Rob Anderson, founder

Reform Clark County

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey made a surprising statement at the July 9 Indivisible Greater Vancouver meeting. Not only was it odd that a “nonpartisan” auditor has become quite aligned with a group like Indivisible, but after years of strongly defending Washington’s vote-by-mail system, he encouraged attendees not to rely on the U.S. Postal Service to return their ballots. Instead, he urged them to use official ballot drop boxes.

This is a seismic shift.

In 2020, Kimsey stated unequivocally, “Vote by mail in the state of Washington is absolutely secure.” Now he is steering voters away from the mail-in portion of our mail-in voting system, and there is not enough ink and paper to list how many times Democrats declared our elections practically flawless — and branded anyone who suggested otherwise as conspiracy peddlers accompanied by exaggerated eyerolls. Yet now Democrats are amplifying Kimsey’s message. Donna Sinclair, vice-chair of Clark County Democrats, has given similar advice on a recent podcast, and the party is almost daily promoting exclusive use of the “secure red boxes.”

Why, it wasn’t too long ago that conservatives and Republicans were mercilessly mocked and criticized by the likes of Kimsey and Democrats. They would brand you an election denier and accuse you of undermining confidence in our sacred democracy if you so much as hinted at problems with our mail-in voting system. But that is exactly the message Kimsey gave to Indivisible Greater Vancouver, and now Democrats are running with it — or maybe it’s the other way around.

If vote-by-mail is truly “absolutely secure,” why discourage using the mail? Encouraging voters to bypass the mail-in portion of the system is like insisting your house has a rock-solid foundation while quietly advising everyone to avoid the front door because it might collapse.

Kimsey also announced that his office is installing ballot drop box cameras. He seemed to take credit for this bold move to help secure the ballot boxes — which is now being promoted over the USPS. This is another reversal from his previous positioning. Just two years ago, he alluded to ballot box cameras being too expensive (costing almost a million dollars, though the actual costs are a little over half of what Kimsey quoted) and unnecessary since we hadn’t had any incidents in over 20 years. But only a few months after making that case to the public, two ballot boxes were firebombed — and the perpetrator(s) have still not been apprehended.

It seems Kimsey and the Democrats are trying to have their cake and eat it too regarding our mail-in voting system.

If the “mail-in” portion of our mail-in voting system can’t be trusted, then it’s time to face reality and give our voting system in Washington State a much-needed overhaul.

I cover this and more in this week’s episode of Reformcast E23 – Some Auditor Candidates Court Indivisible & Democrats Now Hate Christians In BG