From Newsgroup: talk.politics.misc

SEATTLE — A box containing roughly 500 ballots from recent elections was discovered near a dumpster behind a Renton strip mall, raising concerns
among state lawmakers and others about potential vulnerabilities in the state’s mail-in voting system.

Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen and chair of the Washington State Republican
Party, said the ballots appeared to have been mailed to voters but were
never delivered or returned.

While most were destined for King County voters, there are other ballots
for people in Snohomish and Pierce counties.

A man in Renton found the ballots in February, and they were stacked
inside a box on the ground behind a strip mall, according to Walsh.

The ballots, spanning election cycles from 2022 through 2025, were largely unopened and included many from the 2024 general election.

Walsh said he opened a small number of envelopes to confirm they contained ballots, which he described as blank. He said the discovery highlights
what he described as potentially serious flaws in the state’s vote-by-mail system.

“We can't be sure, really, of the path that any of these ballots took, and this gets to the real issue that this box of ballots illustrates,” Walsh
said. “The broken chain of custody is the problem. We can't measure the
path that these took. We don't know exactly what happened."

Ballots are mailed based on voter registration lists, which Walsh said can create gaps in accountability as they move through the mail system.

The handling of ballots outside official channels could present risks,
Walsh said, though he stopped short of alleging wrongdoing.

“Opening for fraud is the right way to put it,” Walsh said. “This is not a smoking gun that fraud occurred, but in this kind of situation, it’s an invitation to fraud.”

Walsh said someone could potentially use information on ballot envelopes
to request replacement ballots, though doing so would be illegal.

The man who found the ballots said he contacted King County Elections, the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, and a congressional office, but received little or no response before ultimately turning the ballots over
to Walsh on Thursday.

A spokesperson for King County Elections said they had no record of being contacted about the issue and would have asked for the ballots to be
returned for investigation. The office said it has since referred the
matter to law enforcement, the U.S. Postal Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

State election officials emphasized that safeguards are in place to
prevent fraudulent voting. Ballots are verified through signature
matching, and voters who do not receive a ballot can request a
replacement.

“If and when they return that ballot, we compare the signature on the
return envelope with the signature on the voter’s registration record,”
King County Elections said in a statement, adding that voters are
contacted if there is a mismatch.

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office said officials are
working with King County to investigate and noted they also have no record
of the situation being reported through official channels.

“If a person finds undelivered mail that has been improperly disposed of, there are several steps they should take to ensure it is fully
investigated. Posting a video on social media is not one of them,”
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a statement. “Washington elections are safe and secure. We check the signature on every ballot to determine that the ballot sent to a voter was signed and returned by that voter.”

Election officials note that multiple safeguards, including signature verification and voter outreach, are designed to prevent such activity.

Walsh said his team plans to go through the envelopes to review voter information and attempt to determine what happened to the ballots.

“We’re going to scan those and do some kind of forensic check on what
happened to that person,” he said.

In some cases, Walsh said preliminary checks suggest voters associated
with the ballots may have successfully cast votes, possibly using
replacement ballots.

The discovery comes as the state Republican Party promotes Initiative IP26-500, a proposed measure that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Supporters say it could help maintain more accurate
voter rolls, though it does not directly address ballot handling.

Walsh said the situation underscores the need for stronger controls.

“We need to have someone responsible for a ballot at every stage of its delivery,” he said, “and right now we don’t.”

State officials, however, maintain that Washington’s vote-by-mail system remains secure, citing verification processes and the rarity of confirmed fraud cases.

The investigation into how the ballots ended up at the Renton location is ongoing.

https://komonews.com/news/local/election-fraud-concerns-king-county-500- ballots-from-recent-washington-state-elections-found-near-renton-dumpster- mail-in-voter-system

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