Wise said her office would remain “vigilant” about similar efforts heading into the general election this fall. Wise added: “I believe the parties involved, as well as any others looking to interfere with voting in any form, have been put on notice - attempts to dissuade voters will be met with action.” “I am glad that no voter has reported feeling so intimidated that they didn’t vote,” said King County Elections Director Julie Wise in a statement. “It’s intimidating voters.”īut neither Fuller nor any of the other witnesses contacted by the sheriff’s office said the signs had dissuaded them from lawfully voting - a potentially key element to proving voter intimidation. “I think it’s disingenuous, it’s under the guise of protecting democracy, but it’s not,” Fuller said in an interview Wednesday. Fuller was one of several citizens who alerted King County Elections to the signs. But not before Jessica Fuller of Seattle spotted one near the drop box at her local library in the Ballard neighborhood.
“As KCGOP Chairman, I was not consulted regarding this activity and was not made aware of it until I was contacted separately by the Director of King County Elections, Julie Wise and media,” Thomas told the newspaper. In an interview with The Seattle Times at the time, he said he was not aware of the signs being placed and had instructed party activists “to stop doing this.” The chair of the party, Mathew Patrick Thomas, disavowed the effort.
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The signs also included a QR code to report “suspicious activity.” That code linked to a page on the King County Republican Party’s website. The sheriff’s office investigation was triggered in late July, prior to the state’s August 2 primary, when signs appeared near some Seattle-area drop boxes that said “This Ballot Dropbox is Under Surveillance.” The signs warned of criminal penalties for ballot "harvesting." In Washington it's not illegal to drop off another person's ballot. Similarly, the Washington Attorney General’s office said on Wednesday it does not disclose pending investigations, but added it does not have a “referral in this matter.” “Please keep in mind, a review of allegations does not necessarily result in the opening of an investigation, Bernd wrote. In an email, Seattle FBI spokesperson Steve Bernd said his agency typically neither confirms nor denies the existence of an investigation. Gaffin also wrote that a copy of his report had been shared with an FBI special agent “to assist in determining if the FBI would be further pursuing this case.” “It was concluded that further investigation was not necessary at this time but the case could be re-opened if similar behavior is seen during the next election,” Detective Keith Gaffin wrote in his report. However, the case technically remains open and the findings of the voter intimidation inquiry have been shared with the FBI, according to the sheriff's office.Ī copy of the investigation, which the Northwest News Network and The Seattle Times obtained through a public records request, said the decision to end the active investigation followed a meeting on August 17 between the sheriff’s office, the King County prosecutor’s office and King County Elections.
An investigation by the King County Sheriff’s Office into a ballot drop box surveillance effort organized by conservative activists has wrapped up without criminal charges.
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