Opinion: Secretary of state race still undecided

In her weekly column, Nancy Churchill takes an up-to-date look at Washington’s secretary of state race

Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric

We are roughly 40 days away from the November elections, and candidates are carefully watching the polls to see how they’re doing. The polls help them decide what issues and voters to focus on as we approach Washington’s ballot drop day on Oct. 15. One of the most trusted polls in Washington state is the Crosscut-Elway Poll, which was sampled between Sept. 12-15, and was published last week.

This poll sampled 403 likely voters who were selected from the list of registered voters. In polling, the shift to likely voters is important — these are the people who are planning to vote in November. This poll primarily sampled western Washington with 80% as opposed to the eastern WA sample of 20%. This sample makes sense because it reflects the state’s population density.

However, it’s difficult to know if the polling is an accurate sample of the likely voter population. Many people are no longer willing to participate in polling, and if they do, some percentage of the participants are deliberately misleading with their answers. This makes understanding the polling data difficult. In addition, the major media outlets are recognized to have a strong bias towards the political left, and tend to report on these polls in ways that favor their political biases.

Focus on the SOS race

Crosscut reported that 40% of Washington voters were still undecided in the secretary of state race. Democrat Steve Hobbs had 31% and non-partisan Julie Anderson had 29% — a statistical dead heat. According to pollster Stuart Elway, the huge undecided number is because neither candidate is well known statewide. Since the poll was conducted, Republican Brad Klippert has also thrown his hat into the ring as a write-in candidate for SOS.

Readers of this column already know how difficult it will be to win a statewide write-in campaign, but this huge number of undecided voters is very encouraging. With Klippert’s entry into the secretary of state race, Republicans, libertarians, and moderate voters have a choice that is better than voting for either of the candidates who will appear on the ballot.

Because I’m working for the Write-in Brad Klippert for Secretary of State campaign, I’ve been speaking to Republican leaders across the state about this race. The consensus is building statewide that most county Republican party leaders are willing to support the Klippert campaign. Some even advocate that Republican leaders need to be prepared and ready to mount strong grassroots write-in campaigns from here on out.

Ranked Choice Voting, the other “candidate”

I believe that the secretary of state race will be won or lost on the issue of ranked choice voting, which we discussed last week. “NonPartisan” Julie Anderson is promoting ranked choice voting in Washington, and if elected will work with radical progressive Democratic legislators to implement the complex and discriminatory voting system in our state, which would further reduce voter confidence in our elections at a time when voters are already feeling disenfranchised and mistrusting of election results.

If you’re concerned about improving public trust in our elections systems, write-in Republican Klippert and Democrat Hobbs are both better choices than Anderson, as both of those candidates strongly oppose ranked choice voting.

I’ve had many people tell me that Anderson is a “really nice person”, and that may be true. But even “nice” people can believe in and promote ideas that are toxic to our democracy and discouraging to voter participation in elections.

Anderson strongly supports the gradual adoption of ranked choice voting by individual jurisdictions, which will eventually lead to a statewide implementation. According to the Elway poll, ranked choice voting has not yet received strong support. Respondents opposed it 49-37%. A majority of Democrats and people under age 35 favor it; majorities of Republicans and Independents and people over age 50 oppose.

Action, action, action

If you have concerns about election security, election integrity, or possible election manipulation you may be discouraged about voting. “Why bother voting” is a question I hear raised by many who are convinced that past elections have been stolen. Just remember that before Republicans complained about stolen elections, Stacey Abrams, Hillary Clinton, and Al Gore all were election deniers!

Hold your head high, and vote like your country depends upon it, because it does. Write-in Republican Brad Klippert for Secretary of State, choose Tiffany Smiley for Senate, and vote for the Republican in every race up and down the ticket. Republicans may not solve all our problems, but the radical progressive alternatives are working to destroy elections, law-and-order, public safety, and the economy. We need your vote, and the vote of every patriotic American. Please vote Republican and encourage everyone you know to vote Republican this November.

Nancy Churchill is the state committeewoman for the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own.