U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, visited the Clark County Auditor’s Office on Wednesday, Sept. 24, to tour the elections department and reaffirm her support for vote-by-mail amid renewed national attacks on the system.
The tour with Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey comes at a time when President Donald Trump has vowed on social media to end vote-by-mail, which he has repeatedly called corrupt and unsafe.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents Washington’s Third Congressional District, said she sees protecting the system as fundamental to ensuring voters’ rights.
“Whether you have the luxury of spare time to stand all day in line or you are trying to, like, pick up your kids and work for a living, your vote ought to be counted and that it is the constitution like the constitution,” she said.
She emphasized that the issue is not left ambiguous in the nation’s founding document.
“The constitution is not fuzzy or hazy on this issue. It is the states that determine that,” she said.
The congresswoman said she recently tried to advance an amendment that would ensure federal election grants cannot be restricted based on whether a state or county chooses to use mail delivery for ballots.
“I was not able to pass that in committee, but it did precipitate a lot of really good conversations and potential allies in this,” she said.
Gluesenkamp Perez highlighted the use of paper ballots as a crucial component of secure elections.
“These are timber products. These are American-made. There's no ambiguity. They're the gold standard in election security,” she said.
After her tour, she said she was reassured by what she saw inside the Clark County facility.
“It was really encouraging to see the physical security of ballots and the orderliness and the process,” she said. “The access of official observers and the seriousness that people are treating this process with … this is a linchpin of democracy.”
When asked by reporters why mail-in voting has remained popular across the West, she attributed its popularity to geography and culture.
“We are more spread out… we’re not all living in a city block where you can walk down 12 flights of stairs and be at a precinct box,” she said. “We know our mail carriers, we have confidence in our neighbors and each other, and it’s an asset that we shouldn’t let corrode from some kind of national narrative that’s not reflective of our experience or values.”
Gluesenkamp Perez said she has never voted in person, relying exclusively on mail-in ballots or drop boxes. She pledged to continue working in Congress to ensure states can maintain the right to administer their elections as they choose.
“I’m gonna continue to have conversations with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle about how we represent the perspective of many Western states, that vote by mail is secure, paper ballots are the gold standard,” she said. “We want everybody to be able to participate, regardless of whether they’re retired and able to stand in line all day, whether they have young kids, whether they’re trying to pour concrete or build a house or work in the trades.”
The congresswoman was also asked about Republican-led states that have redrawn congressional maps to add more Republican seats to the House at President Trump’s request.
“What we’re seeing is the urgency of affirming loudly that states get to determine that,” she said.
“But I think we also need to have a conversation within states … how do we perpetuate that agency to have voices heard and not just going down this mud fight between partisanship (efforts).”
She said she worries that too many congressional districts are locked down by partisanship, limiting voters’ choices.
“There are so few congressional seats that are ever really in a heated race in the general,” she said. “And I think it’s important that we’re reflecting the nuance of beliefs in this country in our elections and people’s right to vote for a candidate that they feel reflects their views.”
