WA State Dems Ridiculous Narrative of Racism in WA State Elections Must End!
Educate. Advocate. Mitigate. Activate!
The WA State Democrats in the legislature keep attempting to re-write history with HB 1710: AN ACT Relating to compliance with the Washington Voting Rights Act of 2018. And HB 1750: Creating guidelines for voter suppression and vote dilution claims under the Washington Voting Rights Act of 2018.
The State Dems very distorted version of reality is essentially saying that our elections are (and always have been) racist and biased against minority groups.
These bills are particularly troubling, as it appears Democrats are trying to codify, replicate and metastasize what their cohorts at the federal level used to do when they didn’t get the results they wanted out of a voting jurisdiction. If these bills become law they could place all jurisdictions within WA into a potentially suspect category of violators of voting rights.
Eight states (CA, CT, IL, MN, NY, OR, VA & WA) have enacted state voting rights acts which generally mimic provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act (1965). Their applicability is specific to state and local jurisdictions and does not implicate Congressional districts.
The 2018 Washington Voting Rights Act states: A jurisdiction violates the Act when elections exhibit polarized voting and where there is a significant risk members of a protected class do not have an equal opportunity to elect candidates of choice as a result of dilution or abridgement of their rights.
HB 1710 would establish within WA a mechanism known as “pre-clearance” - a process by which designated jurisdictions must receive prior judicial or executive approval before undertaking election-related changes. “Pre-clearance” is a form of behavioral order creating oversight.
A 2013 Supreme Court ruling effectively ended a provision of the law known as “pre-clearance.” Prior to 2013, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required states and localities with an “extensive history of racially discriminatory voting practices” to submit any changes in their election laws and policies or electoral district maps to the federal government for advance review before putting them into effect. It appears WA State Dems want to do everything in their power to expand on this narrative…
Courts and the U.S. Justice Department have interpreted Section 5 to apply to a wide category of election related laws, ranging from statewide redistricting plans and voter-ID laws to changes as small as a local government’s relocation of a polling place.
The purpose of pre-clearance was to ensure that any changes in these “covered jurisdictions” did not discriminate against voters of color, either in their purpose or in effect.
These bills are completely unjustified. There is no real evidence of election related discrimination in WA, and neither WA state nor any jurisdiction within the state has been subject to pre-clearance under the federal act. Only two of the eight states with state VRAs operate a “pre-clearance” regime at state level (NY, VA).
With HB 1750, the Democrat legislature wants to continue on with their absurd narrative that there is a history of discrimination in WA State Elections. The Dems also say that local government subdivisions are prohibited from addressing these challenges and this has ‘resulted in an improper dilution of voting power for these minority groups.’ They want to modify existing prohibitions in state laws so that these jurisdictions may voluntarily adopt changes on their own, in collaboration with affected community members, to remedy potential electoral issues so that ‘minority groups have an equal opportunity to elect candidates.’
OF NOTE: In Aug 2024, Galveston County Texas won a major redistricting case that may shift dozens of political seats in Texas. The decision by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that federal law does not protect “coalition” districts created by “opportunistic political combinations” of voters from different minority groups.
Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), representing Galveston County in the case, called the ruling “a huge win… to stop the political weaponization of the Voting Rights Act.” The redistricting case challenged how the appellate court previously interpreted Section 2 of the VRA which Democrats were misusing for partisan political advantage.
PILF argued that the Voting Rights Act was meant to protect individual minority groups’ right to participate in elections, not guarantee Democrats will be elected. The full Fifth Circuit heard the case in May. The judges concluded in their August 2024 ruling:
This court will not remain in the forefront of authorizing litigation, not compelled by law or the Supreme Court, whose principal effects are to (a) supplant legislative redistricting by elected representatives with judicial fiat; (b) encourage divisively counting citizens by race and ethnicity; and (c) displace the fundamental principle of democratic rule by the majority with balkanized interests.
It appears that often in WA State when election results do not line up with their demographics, Democrats want to blame the results on racism.
Why does it seem that Democrats are hell bent on the idea that ‘Protected Classes’ and ‘Coalitions’ have no identity other than political? This and their absurd narrative of racism in WA State elections needs to end!
Both HB 1710 and HB 1750 will have a Public Hearing Wednesday, Feb 5 @ 1:30 pm in the State Government and Tribal Relations House Committee. PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Click here to testify or comment on 1710 and click here to testify or comment on 1750.
Bill Bruch
Bill Bruch is the WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman (5th year), WSRP Executive Board Member (5th Year), Skagit County GOP Chairman (9th year), 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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