(The Center Square) – The office of Washington Attorney General Nick Brown has notified the chair of the Yakima County Republican Party that it will not investigate a political group that held a raffle giveaway to encourage people to vote in the Nov. 4 general election.
Yakima County Republican Party Chair Matt Brown asked the AGO to look into the actions of the group We Are Ella.
We Are Ella describes itself as “building a network of Latinas and allies to assist us better serve the needs of our hermanas [sisters].”
As previously reported, the group held an event related to ballot printing, ballot submission, and voter registration, featuring a raffle for a television and other high-value prizes.
Matt Brown argues the raffle prizes and other giveaway offered by the group constituted an “illegal inducement” under state election laws that prohibit giveaways of monetary value connected to ballot activity.
We Are Ella also receives taxpayer-funded grant money and Brown wanted an investigation to determine if “that money [was used] to buy those prizes that they’re using to bribe voters,” he said.
The Yakima County elections manager reviewed the incident and told Matt Brown there could be an issue, suggesting he take it to the Yakima County Prosecutor.
The prosecutor declined to file criminal charges but did issue a letter to We Are Ella, expressing concern that their conduct was “a potential crime, and reminding them of certain election laws and that violation of those laws was a crime.”
We Are Ella has declined to respond to emails from The Center Square.
In a Wednesday interview, Matt Brown said he was not surprised by the AGO’s response.
“I mean the Attorney General’s Office, I’ve yet to see them actually prosecute crime in Washington state,” said Brown. “They’re too busy stuck on Trump derangement syndrome to actually do their job right now.”
The response from the AGO, which Matt Brown emailed to The Center Square, indicated the office would defer to the local prosecutor.
“Under Washington law, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) generally does not have original criminal jurisdiction to prosecute crime. That jurisdiction lies with Washington’s city and county prosecutors,” wrote John Hillman, senior assistant attorney general. “I am sorry we cannot be of assistance to you in this instance.”
Hillman’s email noted that Matt Brown’s request for an investigation should go to the Washington State Auditor’s Office.
“My understanding is that you have already referred to the SAO the same materials that you shared with our office,” wrote Hillman.
Matt Brown finally received a response from the SAO on Wednesday morning.
“Thank you for submitting your concern to our office. To properly triage case submission, we ask any concerns regarding public resources being misused be reported through either our Citizen Hotline, Fraud, or Whistleblower submission forms,” read an email from SAO’s special investigations team.
The SAO email suggested their office was not the best agency to handle the investigation.
“Our fraud investigation program focuses primarily on two categories of loss, with some exceptions. The first category is occupational misappropriation, which are instances where an employee of a Washington state government misappropriates public funds or assets for personal gain from the government they work for. The second category is certain cybersecurity related incidents and losses where a Washington government either experienced the incident or incurred the loss.”
Matt Brown said with every agency punting to the next to investigate and no one willing to take up the case, there’s no reason for other political organizations not to lure voters with similar tactics.
“What stops other organizations from holding ballot raffles just like this?” he asked. “Because they didn’t prosecute these guys, so are they going to prosecute the next person or the next person? Or are they all just going to get slaps on their wrists and elections are now getting bought and paid for? I mean, that’s basically what the prosecutor, the Attorney General’s Office, and everyone punting to each other are saying.”
