Secretary of state pushes citizenship check for voters

Secretary of State Kim Wyman is undertaking a new push to make sure people who register to vote are citizens.

Wyman made the announcement in response to a report that Cascade Mall suspect Arcan Cetin had voted three times, but was not a citizen.

But it turns out there is no fraud. Cetin is a US citizen and voted legally.

Still, Wyman went ahead with today's announcement, noting that, currently in Washington, voter registration is on the honor system.

“The secretary of state, county auditors and election officials of Washington are not permitted to require proof of citizenship and so there is no way to verify. I find this completely unacceptable,” said Wyman.

She is pushing the Legislature to adopt rules that would require a citizenship check when people get their driver's licenses.

But Wyman's office says they have no examples of non-citizens voting, besides two in 2004.

So her Democratic challenger in the election pounced.

“I believe that this is Kim showing her true colors yet again as a partisan conservative Republican and using this as a stunt,” said Tina Podlodowski.

Wyman says this is not a voter suppression initiative.

“We’re not going to go and scrub the rolls retroactively and any of those things. We’re going to try to have a very measured response.”

Podlodowski didn't answer directly when we asked whether she, if elected, would take advantage of a driver's license database that showed who is a citizen and who isn't.

“I will make sure that the people who are voting in Washington state are folks that are allowed to be voting in Washington state.”

The Department of Homeland Security has told Washington state that by January 2018 it must adopt a program for drivers called REAL ID. If it’s not in place by then, state residents will not be able to use their driver's licenses to board domestic flights and enter military bases.

Cox Media Group