WA state Secretary of State, Governor, Attorney General state they will not share voter data rolls claiming a specious argument to protect voters privacy
Washington State GOP @WAGOP
"Left-wing electeds in WA state including @secstatewa Steve Hobbs, @GovBobFerguson, and @AGOWA Nick Brown have claimed they will not share voter data rolls with @TheJusticeDept as directed by @POTUS' executive order (Preserving and Protecting American Elections) in order to protect the privacy of WA voters. While that might sound good, it's a false argument," says @WAGOP Chairman Rep. @JimWalshLD19.
"And it's not compelling," he adds: "It's what lawyers call a specious argument," as the federal government is the entity that assigns social security numbers and @USPS already possesses voter addresses."
"We know that the registered voter databases, which are generated by the 39 counties, but managed by @secstatewa are not updated in a timely manner as WA State law requires. In other words, removing dead people, people who've moved out of state, and also those who shouldn't have been registered to vote in the first place," explains Chairman Walsh.
In the meantime, the US Supreme Court has sided with the Trump Administration. And while the SCOTUS ruling did not rule on the merits of the EO, it merely critiqued lower court rulings as overly broad. Lower courts cannot make nation-wide injunctions.
"This dispute is kind of a win-win," says Chairman Walsh. "On one hand, Ferguson, Hobbs, and Brown could comply and share the info with @TheJusticeDept and then @USPS can carry the ballots, or they can continue to behave petulantly and refuse. And then we'll have something that looks more like in-person voting. Either way, it’s an improvement on what we've had. So, good for the Trump Administration to create a win-win.”