Following Trump’s primetime address, WA Secretary of State says state has ‘proven track record’ of secure elections

OLYMPIA – Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has again defended the integrity of the state’s electoral system following a primetime address by President Donald Trump during which he reiterated unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.

“Washington state has a proven track record of running secure, accurate, and transparent elections,” Hobbs said in a statement Friday. “Telling the same lies over and over again does not make them true.”

The response follows an address delivered from the East Room of the White House Thursday evening, where Trump said electoral systems are vulnerable to being “rigged and stolen,” which continued an ongoing push by Trump to cast doubts on the country’s elections.

It also comes after the Department of Justice warned election officials last week, including Hobbs, that they could face jail time if they knowingly retain noncitizens on state voter rolls or let noncitizens receive and cast ballots.

During the 25-minute speech on Thursday, Trump touched on a number of election-related topics, alleging that the Chinese government acquired 220 million voter files ahead of the 2020 election, that voting tabulators are at risk of attack and that 250,000 non-U.S. citizens have illegally registered to vote in four states.

“We will be working closely to mitigate any harm and we’re taking swift action to ensure that sensitive voter data is better protected so we can never be bought, we can never be hacked, and we can never watch a stolen election again,” Trump said.

Trump has long challenged the security of the country’s voting systems, and claimed, without substantiated evidence, significant voter fraud.

Ahead of the 2016 election, Trump vowed to accept the election results if he won. While he won the electoral college, Trump claimed he would have also won the popular vote “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

As he sought re-election in 2020, Trump declared himself the victor of the race, as states across the country counted millions of ballots. During the first 2024 presidential debate, Trump said he would accept the November election results if there was a “fair and legal and good election.”

An analysis of the results in six battleground states during the 2020 election conducted by the Associated Press, each of which was won by President Joe Biden, found 475 potential cases of voter fraud. Biden won the states by a combined 311,257 votes.

After state Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s effort to impose additional federal control over elections last year, Hobbs outlined the built-in safeguards to prevent fraudulent votes from being cast or counted in the state’s entirely mail-in voting system, including a collection of statewide databases with up-to-date voter registration that helps determine if someone attempts to vote in multiple states.

“Election officials take voter eligibility and fraud seriously and investigate every allegation,” Hobbs said Friday. “While questions may arise following last night’s address, Washington has well-established processes for maintaining accurate voter rolls and protecting the integrity of our elections.”

On Thursday, Hobbs also responded to the Department of Justice’s letter, which threatened criminal liability for election officials who violate federal election law.

“Notably, your letter does not identify any specific concerns regarding Washington’s voter registration procedures or compliance with federal law,” Hobbs wrote. “If the Department has recommendations regarding our practices, we ask that it identify the factual basis and applicable legal authority so that we may review it promptly.”

Hobbs added that his office “regularly” coordinates with federal agencies on election matters “including efforts to protect our elections against both physical and cyber threats.”