Group pushes lawsuits alleging ‘manipulation’ of Washington’s 2020 election results
Sep 21, 2021, 2:22 PM | Updated: Sep 22, 2021, 6:05 am
An election worker sorts mailed-in ballots at the King County Elections office. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Lawsuits filed in three Washington counties allege that auditors manipulated ballots during the 2020 election, as part of a larger effort from a group pushing for a forensic audit of the state’s ballots.
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The effort is being led by a group known as Washington Election Integrity Coalition United (WEiCU), which has been working to rally supporters across the state. WEiCU alleges that thousands of Washington votes in 2020 were flipped from a third party to Joe Biden, and that auditors in select counties made use of unlicensed voting equipment.
The group is helping lead lawsuits in Snohomish, Whatcom, and Clark counties, each pushing for an audit similar to a controversial process that took place in Maricopa County, Arizona. According to a report from the Everett Herald, 28 Snohomish County residents have attached themselves to one of the lawsuits as plaintiffs, all serving as their own legal representation. All three lawsuits allege the auditor in their respective county “engaged in wrongful acts, errors, and/or neglect of duty,” which they claim led to “electronic manipulation of the voting results.”
That said, WEiCU has yet to present hard evidence to substantiate its claims.
Claims of election fraud have been common among Republicans in Washington state and across the nation over the last year. That includes ongoing assertions from former gubernatorial candidate and current Congressional candidate Loren Culp, whose campaign indicated in early August that he still believes the 2020 election “was not legitimate.”
Loren Culp continues to push election fraud narrative
Culp attended an event in Snohomish County in late July alongside state Rep. Robert Sutherland, who himself has been vocal in his praise for the Arizona audit. A donation button on an “Audit WA” website had previously redirected to Sutherland’s own reelection campaign donation page. That donation button has since been removed.
Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman — a Republican — responded to WEiCU’s recent lawsuits in a statement to the Herald, noting that “this is the new reality on the ground for election administrators.”
“It doesn’t matter how wide a margin in the results,” she added. “You call everything into question and it undermines the validity of everything in the process.”
