Candidate who lost WA governor race by 13% sues state official, alleging voter fraud
After losing the election for Washington governor by over 13%, the Republican candidate is suing the Secretary of State, according to documents filed in King County Superior Court.
Loren Culp’s campaign is the plaintiff in a complaint filed Dec. 10 against Secretary of State Kim Wyman. Culp’s attorney, Stephen Pidgeon, wrote in the complaint that “the process by which this election was held was unlawful under both state and federal law.”
The state’s election results were certified on Dec. 2, The Seattle Times reported. Incumbent Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, won by 545,000 votes, according to the Times.
“Defendants … have violated the right of equal protection guaranteed to plaintiff pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment by allowing an unlawful election to go forward, and by thereafter certifying the results of the election when they knew or should have known that the contest did not meet state or federal standards,” the complaint says.
The complaint says that Wyman, a Republican, allowed “intolerable voting anomalies” and did not adequately update voter files, including the Master Death List. Culp says this resulted in thousands of votes being counted that were from dead people, people living out-of-state or who were otherwise ineligible to vote, according to the complaint.
In an email to McClatchy News, the Secretary of State’s Office said it does not comment on “potential active litigation and therefore will not provide a statement at this time.”
Culp announced that he refused to concede in a Facebook Live video posted to his page on Nov. 9, McClatchy News reported, citing similar concerns.
Before the lawsuit was filed, Culp’s attorney alleged that “over 800,000 votes were tallied than eligible voters who appear in the voter registration database” according to a Facebook video.
The Secretary of State’s Office responded to Pidgeon’s comments in a Dec. 4 news release.
“No evidence has been presented to suggest that 10,000 ballots were cast for deceased voters, or 300,000 people who moved out of Washington state fraudulently voted as Mr. Pidgeon alleges,” Wyman’s statement says. “Voter-roll maintenance is conducted on an ongoing basis by county election officials … We have safeguards in place before, during, and after each election, and conduct numerous audits throughout to ensure all election functions and processes are operating properly and accurately.”
The complaint also cites a conspiracy in which votes were flipped to Joe Biden.
There is no substantial evidence backing up these claims, according to The Seattle Times.
The complaint says that Culp “demands the election results … be audited by a forensic auditor as approved by” Culp. He also wants the votes to be recounted by hand and for Wyman to pay “all sums paid by the Plaintiff to campaign for an office in a general election that was at all times fraudulent and incapable of placing candidates in the lawful offices.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Candidate who lost WA governor race by 13% sues state official, alleging voter fraud."