Secretary of State Steve Hobbs Visits Benton County: Will We Return To In-Person Voting?

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is touring the state to inform citizens on what his office does and help them understand the issues facing Washington Voters.  Secretary Hobbs’ messaging about mail-in voting and the possibility of returning to in-person voting. 

Washington has had mail-in voting for over three decades. Some voters are asking for a return to in-person voting.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs

Secretary Hobbs said there is absolutely no way that we are going back to the way it was. 

“We need to bust up the myth about how how in-person voting is somehow better. if you’re saying that we need to have in-person voting, and we’re going to do it one day, well, how are you going to do it? 

Right now voters in Washington have 18 days to fill out their ballots and return them. Hobbs explained that the system is efficient, with every opportunity for people that are eligible to vote. 

Some continue to argue that fraud has happened in past elections. Hobbs assures that they stop people from committing these crimes. 

“Guess what…We will catch you. If you move to another county and you get another ballot and  vote in two different counties, we’re going to catch you. We’re going to catch you if you try to vote for somebody else and you forge a signature, we’re going to catch you and we have caught people.“

Hobbs says local county auditors and prosecutors do charge people trying to commit voter fraud. And as S-O-S, Hobb’s office is in charge of the training of election officials state wide.