Claim is that over 1,000 votes counted in the race were from voters who did not reside in the district

Bill Bruch
WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman

The Washington State Republican Party (WAGOP) filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Clark County disputing the current 2024 Legislative District 18 State Senator race. In the race, Republican candidate Brad Benton is down by only 172 votes with 84,123 total votes cast. Benton has 41,881 (49.79%) votes and his Democrat challenger Adrian Cortes has 42,053 (49.99%) votes.

The WAGOP, and attorney Joal Ard, are disputing the results and are asking for a new election. They are saying over 1,000 votes counted in the race were from voters who did not reside in the district.

Apparently over 1,000 registered voters had previously contacted the United States Postal Sevice (USPS) and moved out of LD 18 prior to ballots being mailed out for the November 5, 2024 general election

WAGOP State Chairman Jim Walsh said on Twitter, “what the heck are those people doing voting, and more important, why aren’t election officials in Washington State doing their duty and updating their databases so that people that moved away aren’t voting in their areas?”

Washington’s 18th legislative district is one of 49 districts in Washington state for representation in the state legislature. LD 18 is located within Clark County, bordering the 20th district in the north, the 14th district in the east, and the 49th and 17th districts in the southwest.

LD 18 includes 6 of the 7 incorporated cities in Clark County, including Ridgefield in the west, Battle Ground in the center, Camas and Washougal in the south, Vancouver in the southwest, and La Center and Yacolt in the north. Additionally, the district represents the residents of unincorporated Clark County localities Salmon Creek, Brush Prairie, Felida, and Hazel Dell.

OF NOTE: LD 18 was redistricted in 2022 forcing longtime LD 18 State Senator Ann Rivers out of office. The redistricting did not adversely affect current LD 18 State Representative Stephanie McClintock (position 1) who held onto her seat winning election, but current representative Greg Cheney (position 2), who was trying to be the next LD 18 State Senator was knocked out by Benton in the August primary (both Rivers and Cheney will soon be out of the legislature).

In the 2024 general election, longtime Conservative John Ley won the LD 18 position 2 “open seat” vacated by Cheney, comfortably by over 1,600 votes over his Democrat opponent.

The State Democrats currently control the WA State legislature in the Senate 28 to 21.

Bill Bruch is the WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman, WSRP Executive Board Member, 4-Term Skagit County GOP Chairman, Citizen Journalist, Blogger, Business Owner, “2021 Citizen Activist of the Year” award by the Olympic Conference, 2020 WA State House Representative Candidate, Former Council Member, and WA State 2016 and 2024 RNC National Convention Delegate.

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