OLYMPIA – In advance of the Nov. 8 General Election, the Office of the Secretary of State has launched the “Vote with Confidence” awareness campaign to inform voters of election security measures and debunk election misinformation. This campaign includes both traditional advertising — which has begun appearing statewide in newspapers, on television, and on city buses — and community-based partnerships with organizations helping to get out the vote.
In a news conference earlier this month, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said, “We’re going to do our part to inform the voters of what happens here in Washington state...to reach people in their communities to assure them elections are secure, accessible, and transparent.”
The campaign is a response to increased misinformation designed to confuse eligible voters and undermine people’s trust in the voting process. While a SurveyUSA poll found 71% of Washington voters trust the state’s election system, the false claims surrounding the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election have eroded some voters’ trust.
The “Vote with Confidence” campaign aims to maintain or restore voters’ trust by sharing facts about voter eligibility, election security, and the vote-by-mail process — all of which are common targets of misinformation.
In partnership with DH, a Spokane-based communications agency, the Office of Secretary of State has developed and placed messages statewide using a combination of print ads, commercials, and bus signs. County election officials have also received “Vote with Confidence” materials to distribute to local voters covering who is eligible to vote, how to vote, and how election officials secure ballots and tally votes.
Also, as part of the campaign, community organizations across the state are hosting events and using newsletters, social media, personal stories, and videos to get factual information to their networks in Spanish, English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other languages. Materials they are distributing include infographics that detail the journey of a ballot and fact sheets outlining ballot security measures, voting eligibility criteria, and the voting process.
The campaign includes a media kit containing campaign assets, graphics, images of ads, and a contributed article.
To learn more about Washington state’s election security, visit the Secretary of State’s Elections webpage or contact a local county elections office for more information about how individual counties are preparing for Nov. 8.
Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees, and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.