WA GOP leader says he has box of ballots found by a Renton dumpster

King County election officials want to know how a box of ballots wound up next to a dumpster behind a strip mall in Renton, then in the hands of the Washington State Republican Party leader this week.

Roughly 400 ballots, most unopened and unvoted, were brought to the Bellevue headquarters of the state party on Thursday, chairman Jim Walsh said. They were for primary and general elections from 2022 to 2025, he said.

“This is proof that Washington state elections are not secure,” Walsh said in a video posted to social media Thursday, in which he appeared seated at a table with stacks of the ballots. “This is the reason we need to do better by election integrity and election security in Washington state.”

Walsh has backed the idea of ending mail-in voting and is pushing an initiative this year to require proof of citizenship to register to vote in Washington state.



https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/04/17/wa-gop-leader-says-he-has-box-of-ballots-found-by-a-renton-dumpster/