Secretary of State Steve Hobbs discusses his plans to fight misinformation and what the failure to pass voting rights legislation means for Washington state. 

Election security has been making a lot of headlines recently, but the integrity of the ballot has been an issue for more than five years now. 

It has become a major course of national anxiety and, for some, Washington state is a kind of antidote. The state's mail-in voting system was viewed as a model during the 2020 election for states looking at ways to assure access and security for their voters. 

As Washington's newly appointed secretary of state, Steve Hobbs is responsible for  maintaining that reputation while advancing efforts to bolster cybersecurity and fighting misinformation. 

For this week's episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Hobbs discusses his plans for the office, the threats Washington state faces and how the failure to pass voting rights legislation at the federal level impacts his work at the state level.

This interview was recorded at 10am PST on January 18, 2022.

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Credits

Host: Mark Baumgarten

Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara

Engineers: Seth Halleran, Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph