Jason Cruz
Northwest Asia Weekly
Northwest Asia Weekly organizes a conversation with Secretary of State Steve Hobbs at Joyale Restaurant. (Photo courtesy of Jason Liu)
A group of local community leaders gathered for a lunch on Oct. 10 to discuss ways to get voters to the ballot box. Washington Secretary of State Steven Hobbs was a special guest to discuss his office’s role in securing elections as the November 2022 midterm elections loom.
When Kim Wyman left to work for President Biden’s administration last November, Hobbs was seeking to retain his position as the state’s secretary of state, which was replaced by Gov. Jay Inslee. (Jay Inslee) appointed.
Hobbs discusses the issues his office faces with election security, cyberattacks, misinformation, and ways his office can get correct and accurate information about voting.
Election security, fraudulent voting and a faulty voting process are hot topics in 2020, thanks to a raft of accusations from former President Donald Trump. The former president’s false narrative that the U.S. presidential election was “rigged” resonated with his supporters and caused unrest in national, state and local elections.
From left: Colleen Fukui-Skechley, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Jonelle Johnson (Photo by Assunta Ng)
Hobbs said of the January 6, 2021, attack on the nation’s capital based on lies spread by the former president: “I never thought I would see such a level of misinformation and violence in my own country.”
Hobbs touted experience dealing with election security. He currently serves as a lieutenant colonel in the Washington Army National Guard, helping to oversee elections in Kosovo and Iraq.
During his tenure as secretary of state, he also worked to contain the threat of domestic and foreign cyberattacks that could affect elections in the state, and worked with all county auditors in the state to provide security support and voter education.
Hobbs said his office needs to better communicate voting information and how elections work. He discussed why some votes were not counted and thought it would be helpful to educate the public on some of the major issues. Voters need to sign their ballots, he noted. If the voter does not sign, the ballot will not be counted. Hobbs said graffiti and scratches on signature lines by some young voters didn’t count because cursive writing was no longer taught in schools. It’s enough to simply have your name printed clearly on the phone line, he said.
His office is also looking for ways to enhance ballot processing. This involves notifying voters who have a ballot that will not be counted. The situation can be resolved if voters make the appropriate corrections.
This method takes a long time, which may mean that even if cured, these votes will not be counted.
Discussions with Hobbs helped community leaders address election integrity issues.
“That’s great information,” said Paul Tabayoyan, a community leader in the Yakima Valley of Wapato, Washington. “[A]As community leaders, we are always looking for more information and some form of guidance to get our organization more organized. Tabayyoyon is the outreach coordinator for the Asia Pacific Islander Coalition of Yakima County, a community-based organization.
Northwest Asia Weekly organizes a conversation with Secretary of State Steve Hobbs at Joyale Restaurant. (Photo courtesy of Jason Liu)
“It’s important that we hear these things (the disinformation issue about voting) because if we don’t listen, we may ignore talking about them.” He noted that there have been instances of disinformation where unidentified groups have been Tell citizens of the Latino community not to vote in the November election. No reason was given, but it made Tabayyoyon wonder why an organization wouldn’t want a community vote. To educate the population, he said they created commercials on Yakima’s radio and television.
They want to run ads and ads in Spanish to make sure they reach everyone in the area. He also helps coordinate “vote review” parties, where the community gathers to discuss and learn about candidates.
“In some rural communities, you don’t see as many politicians circulating as you do in the city centre.”
“I think like any other culture, it’s all rounded up,” Tabayoyon said of people’s interest in politics in his community. There are conservative voters and liberal voters, but Tabayoyong said they all have one thing in common.
“They all share family values,” noting that their interests lie in how government leaders make certain decisions.
He also noted that young people in Wapato have shown interest.
“A lot of kids have wanted to be involved over the last few years.” That’s partly due to quarantine in COVID, he noted.
In fact, getting the younger generation out to vote was an important message that Hobbes emphasized. To attract young people, Hobbs proposes gamifying the electoral process. He is developing a mobile game app that will include civics questions to educate middle school through high school children about the basics of voting. He’s also looking for a tabletop game for those interested in these types of games. Other ways to get younger generations to pay more attention are to set up a booth at Emerald City Comic-Con and reach out to sports teams like the Seahawks and Krakens.
Election day is November 8th.
access sos.wa.gov/elections/dates-and-deadlines to know more information.
Jason is available at info@nwasianweekly.com.
