State Republican Party files suit

BELLEVUE-The Washington State Republic Party (WAGOP), Chairman Jim Walsh, and Franklin County Auditor Matt Beaton have jointly filed a lawsuit in federal court, pertaining to election integrity.

The lawsuit alleges that Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs colluded to rescind the State Constitution's mandatory 30-day waiting period required before people in Washington state can legally register to vote.

"This is an urgent election integrity issue that needs to be fixed immediately-before the General Election in early November," says Chairman Walsh. "We are asking the court to reverse a devious scheme to destroy the State Constitution's good rule that a person has to live in Washington for at least 30 days before registering to vote."

"The crux of the problem is a phony 'consent decree' concocted by State AG Ferguson and Secretary of State Hobbs to end the 30-day residency requirement," Walsh continued. They claim their phony 'decree' was the necessary result of a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit organization. We believe that the lawsuit was merely an excuse to undermine an important constitutional guarantee of election integrity, he said.

This lawsuit is another step in fixing what's broken in WA elections, Walsh contended.

Earlier this month the Washington GOP filed a lawsuit against King County over the use of online software by Omniballot to 'cure' signature problems on 2,100 ballots in the closely contested race for second place for WA Commissioner of Public Lands.

"We want to improve the transparency and the reliability and faith in our elections in WA," emphasized Chairman Walsh.