Opinion: SOS language tricks – it’s a trap!

In her weekly column, Nancy Churchill discusses the race for Washington secretary of state

Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric

In the 2022 primary election for Washington secretary of state, we once again saw the jungle primary problem in action. Too many Republican candidates filed for the position, and none of them made it past the primary.

Republican candidate Sen. Keith Wagoner received 12.16 percent, Bob Hagglund received 12.05 percent and Mark Miloscia received 10.02 percent, which meant that Republican candidates in total received 34.23 percent of the votes cast in the primary. The frontrunner, Democrat Steve Hobbs, received 39.9 percent of the votes, and “nonpartisan” candidate Julie Anderson received 12.8 percent of the votes.

If only one Republican candidate had filed, that person would have made it to the general election. If other candidates had respected the first Republican to file in the race, we would have a conservative choice in that race. Potential Republican candidates must learn to respect the people who have begun campaigning early, rather than filing at the last minute. Once again, last-minute candidates clearly cost us an opportunity to win this seat.

This November’s SOS Choices: bad and worse

Remember, the secretary of state’s office controls elections! This November, conservative voters will look at their ballots for that race and see a choice between a candidate who “Prefers Democrat Party” and one who “Prefers Nonpartisan Party”. The instinctive, knee-jerk reaction for most non-Democrats will be to choose the nonpartisan candidate over the Democrat. An “independent” candidate must be better than Inslee’s hand-picked Democrat, Hobbs, right? As Admiral Ackbar might say “It’s a trap!”

Julie Anderson is actually a far-left, progressive Democrat. She supports ranked-choice voting, continued mail-in-ballot-only elections and expanding the “access” to vote rather than implementing basic identification checks to prevent fraud. Her party affiliation designation of “prefers nonpartisan” is a cynical and deliberate effort to hide her agenda and bias. She thinks that most voters won’t realize she’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Julie Anderson’s radical progressive agenda

Julie Anderson is the current auditor in Pierce County. Auditors run elections at the county level, and follow the rules set by the secretary of state. However, she only received 19.6% of that county’s vote (bit.ly/3pTQu3M)! What do Pierce County residents know about Anderson that we don’t know?

At Anderson’s campaign website, we learn she supports making the office of secretary of state a nonpartisan position (bit.ly/3R0PlTY). However, I feel this is just a cynical, manipulative way to prevent the voters from understanding exactly who they are voting for. Everyone has a bias, and the voters should know the political philosophies of the candidates.

In addition, Anderson supports ranked choice voting (bit.ly/3Q2YQk9). Ranked choice voting is quite complicated, and because of that, it is another way to make it easy to cheat and hard to detect the cheating. Anderson supports the efforts of Washington Democrats to enact ranked choice voting in Washington state in the next legislative session.

Anderson’s campaign website clearly describes her belief that it’s appropriate for the secretary of state’s office to promote legislative “reform”, and “anticipate” legislation by rule making. Administrative rule making undermines the will of the people and the power of the legislature to make laws. To learn more about this candidate, listen to a 2021 podcast interview from Citizen Tacoma where Anderson outlines her positions on these and other issues (bit.ly/3TmAWDl). Especially informative is the section of the interview where she attacks a decision written by Justice Alito on a case that involved the Voting Rights Act.

Avoid the SOS Trap

I have not decided what I’ll do when voting on the secretary of state race this November. I don’t really want to vote for Democrat Steve Hobbs, but I think he’s the lesser of two evils. Inslee did appoint him, but that was a strategic move to remove Hobbs from his seat in the Legislature. Hobbs was the last moderate Democrat who stood in the way of Inslee’s progressive agenda. I believe that if Julie Anderson wins the SOS race, she’ll work with Inslee and the Democrats to enact rules and promote legislation like ranked choice voting that will keep our state under the rule of radical progressive Democrats forever. How are you enjoying one-party rule so far?

Another choice is to NOT vote in the secretary of state race. When we skip voting on a race, that’s called an undervote. I’m not a fan of giving up my vote on any race (disenfranchisement), but especially not on a state-wide race that’s so important. The winner of this year’s race could impact our elections far into the future. I’d rather choose the candidate that will be “least evil”.

How about a write-in? As of August 28, 2022, no write-in candidate had filed to run in that race, so until someone does, using the write-in is just another way to disenfranchise myself AND it means that my ballot will need to be adjudicated by the election workers.

Please do your research and think hard about your choices, but whatever you do, DO NOT vote for radical, progressive Julie Anderson for Secretary of State. Her use of “prefers nonpartisan” is just another example of manipulative, deceptive language being used to pursue a radical agenda. Spread the word, and tell your friends: SOS Race, “Prefers Nonpartisan” — It’s a trap.

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.