Washington GOP chairman calls for return to in-person voting post-primary

A day after Washington’s primary election and a familiar refrain from the state's GOP: bring back in-person voting.

The chairman of the Washington State Republican Party put out a call on social media to ditch the state’s vote-by-mail process. He posted Tuesday night on X after the first batch of ballots were counted and released.

WAGOP Chairman Jim Walsh told KOMO News via a Zoom interview Wednesday that with every election, the WAGOP wants to point out its long-term goal to get back to in-person, same-day voting. He said it's not something he expects could happen soon but rather over the long term.

Voters can monitor the process, including verification and counting, via a live stream feed. This year, King County Elections added even more cameras with additional angles to the live stream. The process also endures multiple audits, and there are hundreds of hours that partisan and nonpartisan observers are put in to watch it all.

At Election HQ, the work is done in one secure location and requires about 300 staffers. Washington switched to mail-in their ballots 15 years ago.
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Michelle Esteban

[brianparmenter]

Make voting day a national holiday mandatory day off.

[MattFerguson]

Why don't they focus on policies people would vote for instead?

[kristenbridgan-brown]

We don’t have a higher voter count. That’s a lie.

[AthenDeValius]

Dude, some of us have 9-5pm jobs and cannot get the time off easily to wait for hours to vote. Mail in ballots supports our work, our families, and ensures we're able to participate in the process. Review the mail in process if you're concerned. Don't make it harder.

[eiryamorlais]

Washington resident - I have appreciated mail-in...will support in-person, regardless.

[spinflux]

If you don’t trust mail-in voting, go vote in person.

The GOP hate anything that results in higher voter turnout. When people vote, they lose.

[sandrajordan]

Mail in voting is not only most convenient form of voting but most secure The sole reason it is being attacked is to surpress voting. Washington's system is truly the best.

[williammurray]

My wife approached her voter registrar's office the third year of mail-in balloting because she didn't receive the ballots. Told she had in fact received and returned the ballots. Her now ex matter-of-factly told her that he had completed her ballot because he was certain she would vote as he did.

[Clairejart]

Additionally I can track my ballot online.

[Deee.X]

Blockchain voter registration with 2 forms of ID and biometrics scan.

[Retrracin]

Why should we go back to standing in long lines on a workday? Because they want to limit the amount of people voting which favors the right. We have voted in this state by mail for over 15 years and nobody has ever proven there to be fraud. You could just as well have fraud voting in person as you can by mail. It`s all about making it harder for people to vote.

[markstocker]

It's more convenient to vote in your own home. One can do more research on the candidates and measures this way before submitting their ballot.

[lynemac]

@bru- Do they allow that for sudden super crappy weather?

[GrandmaBev]

No way.. I vote by mail. I'm severely disabled and can not go. The armed forces do to.

[toddburgess]

I only trust in person voting, and I'm skeptical about that.
Civic duty was made convenient, which has led to massive distrust of the system.
Protecting and maintaining the democratic process is not cheap.
Trillions of dollars are readily available to fund foreign wars, but not enough money to man the polls, for Democracy™.

[EricaGamet]

If you want to vote in person, I believe you can go to a centralized polling place and do that. I have never heard anyone say they wish we didn't have mail-in voting. I've been here for 7 years and voted for years and years in Colorado with mail-in voting (though it was opt-in at the time). I lived for a short time before moving here in TX and was confused that I had to go to a polling place. It had been so long, I hadn't even used one of the digital polling machines!

[pinoygal]

In person, paper ballots, inked thumbs, no voting machines, and State ID.
Enough installations by the Oligarchy!

[lynemac]

I am able bodied and if necessary, could easily get out and vote, but believe it or not, there are people with mobility issues, etc., but why should you care about them?

[DG-oqhj]

I absolutely think you should go to a polling place to vote. I am ok with mail in ballots for deployed military, handicapped people, or some extenuating circumstances. This would definitely cut down some fraud.

[davidwilfong]

I don't think we ever had any problems with voting for ov
200 years and then Trump came along and started this whole mess get a clue vote blue