SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane County Auditor and Elections Manager Vicky Dalton responded to recent comments made by President Donald Trump regarding mail-in voting. Dalton emphasized, “the accusations and allegations that have been made including by the President are false and inaccurate.”
President Trump recently stated that the process of using mail-in ballots should be abolished. He expressed concerns about potential “massive fraud all over the place” and announced plans to draft an executive order to eliminate the mail-in voting option.
Washington State, which has been using vote-by-mail since 1983 and adopted universal vote-by-mail in 2011, is among the eight states and Washington D.C. that conduct all elections entirely by mail. Dalton highlighted the convenience of mail-in voting, comparing it to modern delivery services. “You expect Amazon and FedEx to deliver everything to your door so going back to poll sites is really very archaic and not something that fits today society,” she said.
During the August primary election, Spokane County had more than 350,000 registered voters, with nearly 89,000 ballots cast, resulting in a turnout of 25.34%. Whitman County had a similar turnout of 28%.
Sandy Jamison, Whitman County Elections Auditor, noted the importance of mail-in voting for rural areas. “Many of those are rural and so I think if we eliminated mailing voting, we’re going to… hurt the accessibility for some of those folks that live on the outskirts of our county,” said Jamison. She expressed concerns that eliminating mail-in ballots would reduce voter turnout numbers.
Dalton also questioned the constitutionality of eliminating mail-in voting. “I think the final item to consider here is if this is even constitutional,” she stated. Both Dalton and Jamison anticipate a legal battle if the executive order moves forward. “I’m sure that the first thing that would happen is there would be lawsuits filed,” Dalton added.
Currently, no action has been taken by the White House following Trump’s comments made during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
