Conservative activist Scott Presler has been holding rallies across Washington State to drive support for requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
Presler is collecting signatures to get IL26-12 to the state legislature, a ballot initiative which would require proof of citizenship to vote. Documents needed to prove citizenship include a birth certificate, passport, or certificate of naturalization. If any person could not provide proof, then they could have their voter registration canceled.
“I think that we have seen, in a state that is only vote by mail, that there are opportunities for fraud as we have seen in other states across the country. And this is about doing the right thing on behalf of what Washington voters want,” said Presler, the founder and executive director of Early Vote Action.
Democrats have argued that requiring proof of citizenship to vote in an election would reduce turnout and discourage voting.
Stephen Reed, the communications director for the Washington State Democrats, said, “There’s obviously potential for fraud in any system, but as we have seen over the past how many years that vote by mail has been going on in Washington, we have found every instance. And the instances that we have had are so vanishingly rare that they would never actually impact the outcome of an election.”
The ballot initiative requires 309,000 valid signatures by January 2, 2026 to be considered by the state legislature. Presler said he will return to the state after Thanksgiving to continue campaigning for the issue.
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