Washington’s Secretary of State, Steve Hobbs, visited WSU’s campus Sept. 16 to give a lecture in the Foley Institute about voting and voter engagement.
Hobbs stated in his lecture that the biggest threat to election security does not stem from the ballot box, addressing concern over mail-in-voting, instead, he says it comes from a combination of foreign disinformation, cyberattacks and political distrust among voters.
“We have cyber threats that’s happening… in Washington state, we had one of our counties taken out for 100 hours. Luckily, we had Homeland Security and CISA, which is an organization that’s with Homeland Security that protects our infrastructure and elections are one of the primary infrastructures that they protect. We were able to get the county back in operation. Also, we had the bomb exploding, uh, drop boxes, which I never thought was going to happen,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs also said that the U.S. The Department of Justice recently requested access to WA’s voter database, which would allow them access to sensitive personal information such as partial SSN’s and driver license numbers.
According to Hobbs, his office is continuing to resist the DOJ’s demands, citing existing privacy laws.
While speaking about threats to WA election security, Hobbs warned of a federal ‘pullback’ in election support to the states.
“Unfortunately, we’re in a situation now where the Trump administration is starting to pull back support and funding for those election resources. So, states are left to defend themselves against nation-state actors. Now, we’re hoping that will change. We’ll see. But also the threats are coming from the administration trying to get after how states run elections,” Hobbs said.
The negative effects of disinformation on elections are being mitigated by the state partially through the use of AI monitoring tools that monitor popular pieces of incorrect information, Hobbs said.
“The way we put the genie back in the bottle is we combat mis and disinformation with the truth. We don’t attack the individual…I have deputized you as defenders of democracy,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs also defended Washington’s voting model in the lecture, calling mail-in-voting a part of the state’s civic culture.
“This is how we do elections and the constitution says that we can do our own elections. But the Trump administration said [they’re] going to try to remove it through an executive order. That executive order has not come out yet, but we are prepared to push back if need be with our attorneys and our attorney general,” Hobbs said.
The Secretary’s office is prioritizing outreach in various communities across WA, such as communities of color, voters targeted by the justice system and tribal nation voters, among others, according to Hobbs.
One of the most challenging aspects of voter outreach is reaching rural communities. Some of the state counties’ suitors only have four staff members to administer entire elections, according to Hobbs.
A portion of the lecture centered around the engagement of young voters. Hobbs shared research indicating that youth often don’t vote due to confusion about voting mechanics.
To combat this, the state has launched mock elections online and civics curricula in schools, although participation is not required for public school students, according to Hobbs.
Despite efforts, Hobbs said voter turnout has stagnated in WA.
Washington voter turnout has dropped from its record high in the 2020 general elections, according to Annual Election Reports from the Secretary of State’s office.
