Democrat Steve Hobbs is running to retain his position as secretary of state for the remainder of the two-year term. He is a first-generation Japanese American and a 30-year member of the military, serving tours in Kosovo and Iraq before becoming a Lieutenant Colonel in the Washington Army National Guard.
Hobbs was appointed as secretary of state in November of last year after Kim Wyman resigned to join the Biden Administration. Prior to his appointment, he served four terms in the Washington state Senate representing the 44th Legislative District. His voting record was consistently progressive on social issues and leaned more conservative on taxes and workers' rights.
During his first 8 months in office, Hobbs has been laser-focused on protecting our electoral systems from attacks. He has used his background in national security to partner closely with the Department of Homeland Security to stop digital threats to our voting systems, both foreign and domestic. Hobbs also understands the challenge that misinformation poses to the integrity of our elections. He has been working to set up a division within his office specifically to combat misinformation and wants to work closely with social media companies to ensure they take down dangerous conspiracy theories.
As the pandemic recedes, Hobbs is committed to restarting his office's voter outreach program. He is very enthusiastic about a trusted messenger program he's launching to utilize community leaders to talk about the importance of voting. He also wants to improve outreach to reduce the racial disparities in rejected ballots because of signature mismatches.
The only issue of concern with Hobbs is his personal opposition to ranked choice voting. During our interview, he shared that he's concerned about implementing a complicated new voting system at a moment of low trust in our elections. In addition, he is concerned that voters like his mother, who speaks English as a second language, will have a difficult time learning and participating in the new system. Experts have reiterated that ranked choice voting is simple for all voters and has been used successfully on ballots in multiple languages.
Hobbs made a compelling case that the secretary of state must adapt to the new and complex challenges of running modern elections. Hobbs is a good choice if you're looking for someone with broad Democratic endorsements and with national security experience to safeguard and rebuild trust in our electoral system.
Democrat Steve Hobbs is running to retain his position as secretary of state for the remainder of the two-year term. He is a first-generation Japanese American and a 30-year member of the military, serving tours in Kosovo and Iraq before becoming a Lieutenant Colonel in the Washington Army National Guard.
Hobbs was appointed as secretary of state in November of last year after Kim Wyman resigned to join the Biden Administration. Prior to his appointment, he served four terms in the Washington state Senate representing the 44th Legislative District. His voting record was consistently progressive on social issues and leaned more conservative on taxes and workers' rights.
During his first 8 months in office, Hobbs has been laser-focused on protecting our electoral systems from attacks. He has used his background in national security to partner closely with the Department of Homeland Security to stop digital threats to our voting systems, both foreign and domestic. Hobbs also understands the challenge that misinformation poses to the integrity of our elections. He has been working to set up a division within his office specifically to combat misinformation and wants to work closely with social media companies to ensure they take down dangerous conspiracy theories.
As the pandemic recedes, Hobbs is committed to restarting his office's voter outreach program. He is very enthusiastic about a trusted messenger program he's launching to utilize community leaders to talk about the importance of voting. He also wants to improve outreach to reduce the racial disparities in rejected ballots because of signature mismatches.
The only issue of concern with Hobbs is his personal opposition to ranked choice voting. During our interview, he shared that he's concerned about implementing a complicated new voting system at a moment of low trust in our elections. In addition, he is concerned that voters like his mother, who speaks English as a second language, will have a difficult time learning and participating in the new system. Experts have reiterated that ranked choice voting is simple for all voters and has been used successfully on ballots in multiple languages.
Hobbs made a compelling case that the secretary of state must adapt to the new and complex challenges of running modern elections. Hobbs is a good choice if you're looking for someone with broad Democratic endorsements and with national security experience to safeguard and rebuild trust in our electoral system.
Because of a Tim Eyman initiative, the Legislature is required to submit any bill it passes that closes tax loopholes or raises revenue to a non-binding advisory vote. The Legislature had a historically productive 2022 session, resulting in several advisory votes appearing on the ballot. We hope the Legislature will change the law to remove these meaningless measures in the future.