Washington’s voter registration system is being challenged.

Organized efforts in Washington and across the country are seeking to make it more difficult for individuals to register to vote and maintain their current registration. Besides being burdensome to eligible voters and costly for counties to utilize, the proposals are not necessary because voting by noncitizens is negligible. Furthermore, these proposals would disenfranchise a significant number of persons who are legally eligible to cast a ballot.

In Washington, Initiative Measure IL26-126 would require all voters to have an enhanced drivers’ license or provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in person. Voters who fail to do so would see their registration canceled.

Backers have until Jan. 2, 2026, to turn in the signatures of nearly 309,000 voters. If they succeed, the initiative would go to the Legislature, where senators and representatives have these choices:

• Adopt it as written
• Decline to act, sending the measure to the November 2026 ballot for voters to decide
• Approve an alternative initiative for the November 2026 ballot that would appear next to the original

The fact is noncitizens are not voting. Despite claims by supporters of Measure IL26-126, the incidence of noncitizens voting in Washington is miniscule. It’s the same in other states where similar falsehoods are being spread. Promoters repeatedly are using a methodically unsound 2014 study to convince people otherwise.

The reality is numerous scientifically strong studies  prove these falsehoods are wrong. Perhaps the best evidence is the Brennan Center for Justice’s finding of only 30 cases of suspected noncitizens voting out of 23.5 million votes cast in 2016—an incidence rate of 0.0001%.

Who votes in Washington state? Citizens. Washington state voters are citizens who are registered to vote and who are at least 18 years old (or turn 18 by the General Election) and have not had their right to vote removed by the court.

Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. Moreover, several states—including Washington—have additional laws against non-documented persons voting. Plus, state and local election officials specifically keep watch for noncitizen voting. Nearly 30 years ago, Congress made the crime punishable by fines and imprisonment of up to a year. A noncitizen found voting also risks deportation.

Mail-in voting IS safe and tested. Mail-in voting is deeply rooted in the United States, having been successfully used for more than 150 years. Still, its recently increased use has led to false allegations that the practice is vulnerable to widespread fraud and tampering.

But states have developed numerous layers of security  to protect against malfeasance. The protections vary from state to state but the systems are well tested and are multilayered to ensure security.

The real threat to election security is mis- and dis-information. Spread with rapid-fire speed and unfathomable breadth, today’s mis- and dis-information campaigns present the gravest danger, spreading false news, amplifying conspiracy theories and exacerbating political echo chambers to manipulate discourse online.