Trump’s order on voter registration raises questions for WA elections system

Washington officials are not sure how President Donald Trump’s executive order to crack down on voter registration in elections could affect the state.

Trump’s order, issued Tuesday, directs states to use documents like a passport to prove someone is a citizen before they can register to vote. It also says ballots received after election day shouldn’t count, and threatens funding for states that don’t go along.

The president has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that noncitizens are casting ballots in elections en masse and has questioned the integrity of mail-in voting systems.

It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections — and cases of it happening are rare.

Trump’s executive order could pose a risk to Washington, since elections officials count ballots as long as they are postmarked or dropped in an official dropbox by the end of election day. While Washington requires identification to register to vote, the state does not require voters to present identification to cast a ballot through the state’s vote-by-mail system.

In a statement Wednesday, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the order jeopardizes the state’s voting processes. He said there are still “many questions unanswered,” but went on to cite specific concerns about some aspects of the order.

Hobbs wrote that demanding documentation of citizenship could disenfranchise people who are eligible to vote but who don't have an enhanced driver’s license or U.S. passport. He also said the order not to count ballots received after election day directly contradicts Washington’s law and would discount thousands of legitimate ballots.

“In the 2024 General Election alone, more than 250,000 Washington ballots postmarked on time arrived after Election Day,” the statement said. “Had this rule been in effect, those voices would have been silenced, especially in rural areas where mail delivery can take longer."

Hobbs also took issue with part of the president’s order that directs Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE to review state voter rolls and the processes states use to maintain those lists.

"This is the same group that falsely claimed to save taxpayers $8 billion on an $8 million contract and said 150-year-olds were collecting Social Security,” Hobbs’ statement said. “They have no place in the nonpartisan work of maintaining voter rolls, a responsibility defined by law and carried out by trained election professionals.”

Washington Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh — who is also a state representative from Aberdeen — said in a text message that the president’s order is an “important first step” to improve confidence in elections and ensure only legal voters are registered.

Walsh has been an outspoken critic of the state’s voting processes.

“There is no strong system in place to make sure people who are automatically registered to vote are citizens and legal voters. This is especially true with regard to our state's automatic voter registration or ‘Motor Voter’ policy.” Walsh wrote, referring to the state policy that requires some state agencies to register people to vote unless they opt out, including the Department of Licensing.

The president’s order comes weeks after Walsh filed a state resolution in the Legislature calling for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Washington’s implementation of voter registration laws. State lawmakers did not take up the resolution — which is a formal statement, rather than a legally binding policy change — but Walsh’s filing of the measure was covered by several media outlets and shared on social media.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown defended the state’s voting system in a statement of his own.

“We are not going to take advice on election integrity from a guy who can’t stop lying about his 2020 election loss,” Brown said, referring to the president. “We have a secure and fair election system that respects voters’ rights, and we will use every tool we have to protect that.”

It’s so far unclear what steps Brown may take in response to the order. His office is already involved in several lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration.

Trump’s election directive is likely to face court challenges.

The American Civil Liberties Union said as much in its statement reacting to the new directive Tuesday.

“We deserve better than elected officials weaponizing xenophobia and the myth of voter fraud to jeopardize our rights,” read a statement from Sophia Lin Lakin, the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “We will do everything in our power to stop this unconstitutional attack on the right to vote to ensure that every eligible American can participate in our democracy. We will see President Trump in court.”

This post has been updated with new information from Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office.