We doubt that a reminder is necessary, but just in case … voters are not obligated to share information about their registration or voting habits with anybody. In fact, the mere act of asking for such information undermines our democracy and threatens the integrity of our election systems.
This should go without saying. But Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey noted last week that his office has received reports of people canvassing local neighborhoods and asking about voting information. “I understand this kind of canvassing can be concerning to voters,” Kimsey said. “Voters are under no obligation to provide information to someone who comes to their door asking about their voter registration information.”
Nonvoters are not obligated to reveal information, either. To quote the TV show “Parks and Recreation”: “This is America, isn’t it? Then I don’t have to answer stupid questions while standing on my own property.” You don’t need to answer them anywhere else, either.
But that apparently has not prevented volunteers for a group based in Thurston County from going door-to-door, asking about voting information.
The organization’s website says its goal is “to ensure that our votes are not just ‘counted,’ but also to ensure they are not ‘cancelled’ by fraud, incompetence, or other problems which can often occur in any complex government run, bureaucratic system.”
That is about all the website says. A “blog” section has a test from June 2021 and says “Coming Soon.” A “media” section says “Coming Soon!” A “news” section has one link that circles back to the same website.
In other words, the organization seems about as fraudulent as conspiracy theories that have gripped a tiny portion of the electorate since the 2020 election, fueled by the rants of losing presidential candidate Donald Trump. Indeed, the need for election security and integrity is paramount, but why a group of people would believe that a compulsive liar is suddenly telling the truth is incomprehensible.
In the weeks following the election, William Barr, Trump’s attorney general, said: “We have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.” The Department of Homeland Security called the election “the most secure in American history.” And a lawyer who had challenged the election admitted in court that the claims were a partisan lie, saying “reasonable people would not accept such statements.”
Subsequently, some 60 lawsuits challenging the election results were rejected by the courts — including dozens that came before Trump-appointed judges.
Yet Republican activists and legislators continue to waste time and money trying to prove a falsehood. An audit released last week in Georgia discovered that no noncitizens voted in that state — but 1,634 people with unverified citizenship were prevented from registering. And a Michigan audit released this month found 41 potential “duplicate” votes — out of 5.5 million cast.
The list goes on. Claims of fraud or incompetence are routinely disproved in the most concrete of terms, but the lie endures.
The problem is not that people are demanding election integrity. The problem is, as former Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman says: “It undermines confidence in fair elections, at a core foundational level. And it’s going to be hard to recover from it.”
Election integrity must be protected. But that means reassuring the public and pointing out the vast security measures in place, rather than perpetuating lies and undermining the public trust.
