Trump Pushes to End Mail-In Voting in Washington, Yakima Reacts

President Donald Trump wants to end mail-in voting in Washington State and every other state where people can only mail-in a ballot.

LAWMAKERS HOPE FOR CHANGE

There's an effort to make that happen through House Bill 1584 with the goal of ending mail-in voting and reinstating in-person voting and recreating polling places and polling centers. The House Bill is sponsored by 15 different republican lawmakers in the state. They say the current system, vote-by-mail has increased turnout but at the expense of voter privacy and security.

Get our free mobile app

OPPONENTS NOT CONVINCED

But opponents to the bill say concerns about security are exaggerated. Studies have indicated that mail-in voting increases turnout modestly.

AUDITOR ROSS IS SKEPTICAL

Yakima County Auditor Charles Ross says even though Trump is saying he wants to change the state system there's no plan by the state legislature to do that at any time in the near future. He says if the bill is successful it would be a question voters would ultimately decide not the President. Voters overwhelmingly supported the switch to vote by mail in 2011 when the system started statewide. How do you feel about the vote-by-mail system? Would you vote for a change?

YOU SURE YOU WANT A CHANGE?

A SurveyUSA poll conducted in 2022 revealed that 71% of Washington voters had either high or moderate confidence in the state's vote-by-mail system. Specifically, 43% expressed high trust, and 28% reported moderate trust.