False voter fraud claims ‘red meat' for MAGA base, WA officials say

Washington state's Republican Party is amplifying baseless claims that Los Angeles' mayoral primary was stolen, using the California race to renew attacks on Washington's vote-by-mail system.

The vote-fraud conspiracy theories, fueled by right-wing influencers after a former reality TV star failed to advance to the general election in Los Angeles, have drawn sharp criticism from election officials and a former state GOP chair, who said the party is recycling familiar fraud narratives without evidence.

It's the most recent salvo in a broader campaign to undermine confidence in mail voting, particularly in Democratic-led states. In Washington, where GOP leaders have spent months questioning election procedures, officials warn the rhetoric echoes the falsehoods that followed the 2020 election and offers a preview of what could unfold in the 2026 midterm. As Trump and his allies confront likely losses in congressional races amid terrible approval ratings, critics say they are setting the stage to blame future defeats on fraud rather than voter rejection.

The latest conspiracy theories center on California's slow vote-counting. Like Washington, California counts ballots postmarked by Election Day, often requiring several days before final results in close races are known.

Election-night results in Los Angeles showed Spencer Pratt, a conservative former reality TV star, potentially advancing past the primary to face Mayor Karen Bass. But as more ballots were counted, progressive City Council member Nithya Raman surged into second place, securing a November matchup against Bass.

That wasn't particularly surprising given Los Angeles' Democratic-dominated voter base. But some conservative media influencers who had pumped up Pratt's chances have questioned the outcome, egged on by President Donald Trump and trillionaire Elon Musk.

In posts on X in recent days, the state GOP has repeatedly amplified claims that the California election was rigged and asserted that Washington's similar mail-in ballot system is also corrupt.

The party shared a post from an online conservative influencer known as Libs of TikTok" claiming "They just cheated in an election right in front of our eyes." Another post shared by the state GOP asserted the California election was clearly fraudulent even if it can't be proven.

"All the signs are kind of pointing to what Trump did when he lost the election in 2020," said Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, referring to the "Stop the Steal" narrative that led to Trump backers storming the U.S. Capitol and years of harassment directed at elections workers.

The Washington State GOP has spent months claiming the state's vote-by-mail system can't be trusted - even as the party tries to convince its voters to cast ballots this fall for its preferred candidates.

"Mail-in ballots are how blue states cheat and win elections," the party wrote on X last week, saying it's been going on "at least since 2004" when Republican Dino Rossi lost a historically close race for governor to Democrat Christine Gregoire after two recounts and a lawsuit.

In a text message asking what evidence of voter fraud exists in Washington, state GOP Chair Jim Walsh also cited the 2004 race, and a 2019 Seattle City Council election in which Kshama Sawant, a socialist, surged in late vote counts to win reelection after lagging far behind on Election Day.

"The recent, statistically unlikely post-Election Day results on the Los Angeles mayoral primary are not directly relevant to Washington elections, of course. But they have raised concerns about election integrity generally," said Walsh, a state representative from Aberdeen who is seeking reelection this fall.

The state GOP has even questioned Gov. Bob Ferguson's election, claiming in a post on X that he "wouldn't be gov" if the state voted in person with ID instead of via mail. The party offered no evidence to support the claim. Ferguson defeated Republican Dave Reichert by more than 430,000 votes in 2024, continuing a 40-year winning streak for Democrats.

Former Washington State Republican Party Chair Chris Vance is blasting the latest fraud claims, challenging Republicans to cough up any proof. "Put up or shut up," he wrote in an op-ed for Post Alley, a Seattle news and commentary website.

Vance chaired the state GOP in 2004, during the hotly contested Rossi-Gregoire gubernatorial race and oversaw a nationally watched lawsuit that unsuccessfully sought to overturn the result.

He said Republicans documented plenty of mistakes in the 2004 election, including ballots cast in the names of deceased voters and by ineligible felons. But, Vance said, they found zero evidence of a fraud scheme carried out by Democrats.

"You couldn't have looked harder than we did," he said in an interview. "There has never been a scintilla of evidence of organized fraud out there that actually makes a difference in an election."

Vance added the GOP's parroting of "insane conspiracy theory nonsense" is making it powerless and irrelevant in the state.

State elections officials also expressed concerns about the continued efforts by Trump and other prominent Republicans to sap confidence in voting.

Hobbs said Republicans are doing their own candidates and voters no favors by fueling suspicions about mail voting while simultaneously trying to boost turnout for the midterms.

Hobbs, a Democrat, noted that Republicans have observers at ballot-counting sites and have not produced credible evidence of widespread problems.

"He is going to do his thing," Hobbs said of Walsh. "This is red meat for the MAGA part of his party. But I will tell you most of the Republican legislators know we have a good system."

Kendall Hodson, chief of staff for King County Elections, said the GOP's unsubstantiated claims are disappointing. "I think it's really dangerous when we make allegations without evidence that our elections are not above board."

Part of the delay in vote counting in Washington and California stems from the time required to verify voter signatures on mail ballots against signatures on file. "Accuracy takes time," Hodson said.

Walsh said he hopes a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision will end the practice of counting ballots received after Election Day, as is currently allowed in Washington, California and about a dozen other states. Such a decision, he said "could improve ballot security and election integrity nationwide."

An earlier vote deadline has been endorsed even by some liberal voices, including The New York Times editorial board, which wrote last week that California's slow vote counting is "a failure of governance" that should be fixed.

Hobbs and other elections officials in Washington are preparing for a Supreme Court ruling that could come at any time and potentially move up the state's ballot deadline. They plan to urge voters to return ballots as early as possible in the November general election.

"We are going to stress this election just get your ballot in early. If you are a week or two weeks out - just put it in a drop box, he said.

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