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My hope is that Washington’s experience running mail-in elections will help other states reassure those who question whether the process is safe.

Kim Wyman
Opinion contributor

For as long as Washington state has voted by mail, I’ve heard concerns about the practice from both ends of the political spectrum. While I firmly believe that Washington’s system of allowing voters to cast their votes at home is safe, secure, trustworthy and a model for the nation, we must acknowledge that some voters are worried about the idea of voting by mail.

My job is to instill confidence in our elections. Voter confidence is not a pillar of our democracy, it is the pillar. When voters see a reason to mistrust our elections, they do not believe the outcome. This undermines the legitimacy of those elected.

In recent weeks, my office has spoken with elections officials in every state and Puerto Rico about common-sense steps they can take to expand absentee or mail-in voting. While no state can safely go from almost entirely in-person voting to all-mail ballots overnight, I believe that sharing Washington’s lessons and successful experiences will help other states find solutions that work for them. After all, states and municipalities run our elections, not the federal government.

Voters want options and peace of mind. It is my hope that by sharing Washington’s experience running hundreds of mail-in elections with other states will help reassure those who question expanded absentee and mail-in voting. Our goal is to help states develop strong security measures to instill confidence across the political spectrum.

Doesn’t vote by mail and absentee voting lead to more fraud? I am confident that the answer is no. Washington has earned national recognition for its process of matching voter signatures on envelopes to signatures on file, "air-gapping’" computer systems to prevent hacking, and ensuring appropriate chain-of-custody for every ballot. Local election officials can communicate in real-time to ensure each voter can have only one ballot counted.

Mail ballots in Portland, Oregon, on May 17, 2016.

While some are worried about non-citizens voting, I think Washington’s experience shows otherwise. Our counties of Thurston and Yakima are similar in population, but demographically very different. Yakima (an agricultural producer) has a higher population of non-citizens than Thurston. If we expected many non-citizens to be registered to vote, we might expect them to have similar numbers of registered voters, but in fact Yakima (119,658) has far fewer registered voters than Thurston (189,369).

Think of it this way: If you had come to America illegally and might be deported if caught, would you sign up on a government list and tell them your address, knowing that voting would prohibit you from ever becoming a citizen?

Ballot theft isn't a major threat

Couldn’t someone steal a ballot from a mailbox and fill it out? Sure, someone could steal a ballot but being able to get away with it is highly unlikely. The thief would have to match the voter’s signature well enough to fool a match by a human reviewer and would be committing a Class C felony that could result in thousands of dollars in fines and jail time — all for the sake of a single vote. Our audit system lets voters track their ballot and ensures only one ballot is counted per eligible voter.


Our elections system is also focused on preventing double voting and other fraud. We check registrations against the national death index and communicate with voters when we flag problems with their ballots. While it is prohibited under federal law to check for citizenship, Washington state law also requires a Social Security number or driver’s license number and a legally enforceable declaration that the voter is a citizen.

Don’t mail-in elections increase turnout and make it easier for Democrats to win? This has become conventional wisdom on both the right and the left, but the facts paint a different picture. For example, Ohio had record turnout in 2016 and 2018, and yet Republican candidates won most major races. A study from Stanford looked at three vote-by-mail states — Washington, Utah, and California — and found that vote-by-mail didn’t meaningfully change the partisan makeup of the electorate, or the outcomes of partisan elections.

Election leaders must not be partisan

But more important, I have found over 27 years working in elections that election administrators cannot act in a partisan manner. Doing so destroys the foundation of our elections. I supported vote-by-mail because I thought it was the right thing to do for our voters, not because of the partisan effects it might have. As Washington’s chief elections officer, I can’t ever place politics above the confidence people put in our elections system. As I said before, public confidence is the most critical element of our elections.

Even in a pandemic, it’s wrong to dismiss voter concerns, so I will keep listening to voters who have concerns about our system; they must have confidence in our elections, and they deserve straight answers. I hope states across the country will support giving voters more, not fewer, options for voting. Republicans, Democrats and independents should all be able to feel comfortable about their states expanding absentee voting. In Washington state, we’ve proven it works.

Kim Wyman, a Republican, is secretary of state in Washington.