Secretary Of State Rebukes Claims Of Election 'Anomalies'

OLYMPIA, WA — On Friday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp held a press conference, in which claimed mass voter fraud cost him the election. Now, the Secretary of State is weighing in, say that isn't true, and that there has been no evidence to support his bold claims.

At Friday's conference, Culp and attorney Stephen Pidgeon claimed that 800,000 ineligible voters cast their ballot in the Nov. 3 election. Some votes, they claim, were cast by deceased voters. Others they say were cast by people who had moved out of the state, and fraudulently voted in Washington regardless.

In response, Secretary of State Kim Wyman has issued a statement saying that Culp's claims are false, and that there has been no evidence whatsoever of widespread voter fraud.

“Gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp, and now attorney Stephen Pidgeon, have made sweeping claims about alleged voter fraud committed in the 2020 General Election without providing any substantive evidence," writes Wyman. "If Mr. Culp, his attorney, or anyone else believes they have evidence of fraud, I urge them to report their findings to their county election officials and the Secretary of State’s Office. As a member of law enforcement who purports to have evidence of felonies, Mr. Culp should be duty-bound to provide that evidence to the appropriate authorities so these cases can be investigated by county sheriffs and prosecutors, and possibly the FBI."

Wyman continues by dissecting some of Pidgeon's specific arguments.

“Mr. Pidgeon’s claim that only 3.2 million people voted in the 2020 general election is false. Nearly 4.2 million people voted in the Nov. 3 election," Wyman said. "No evidence has been presented to suggest that 10,000 ballots were cast for deceased voters, or 300,000 people who moved out of Washington state fraudulently voted as Mr. Pidgeon alleges."

The claim is not a new one for Culp, who has consistently cast doubt on the security of Washington's elections. Culp's opponent, Gov. Jay Inslee secured a decisive victory on Nov. 3, pulling a strong enough lead that the Associated Press called the race in his favor as the first round of results dropped. Inslee ultimately ended up defeating Culp by 545,000 votes.

Despite the clear defeat, Culp never conceded and has instead begun a campaign to discredit the election, repeatedly citing 'irregularities' in the vote tally when there has been no proof that the vote was tampered with or altered in any way. Some of his claims have been more specific than others, but Wyman says thus far, none have been presented to her office for actual investigation, and none appear to have any merit.

“The Office of the Secretary of State takes allegations of voter fraud seriously. If anyone has evidence of voter fraud being committed in Washington state, I implore you to provide that evidence to your county elections official and/or the Office of the Secretary of State,” said Wyman.

Read Wyman's full statement on the Secretary of State's website.