Gov. Jay Inslee wants to make it a crime to lie about elections. His proposal, which will have a public hearing Friday, is a clear threat to free speech and must not move forward.
It is not a viable answer even as the danger to democracy is very real.
If that sounds like hyperbole, then you haven’t been paying attention. The storming of the U.S. Capitol, stoked by former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, was just the beginning.
In Congress, Republicans have obstructed any effort to secure voting rights, even as GOP controlled legislatures throughout the country are making it harder to vote. Meanwhile, acolytes of the “big lie” — more than a dozen, in as many states — are vying to control the very elections they question.
On the anniversary of Jan. 6, Inslee waded into the fray.
“There is an ongoing coup attempt by candidates and elected officials to overturn our democracy,” he said. “I proposed we do something about that in Washington.”
Following the governor’s wishes, Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, introduced Senate Bill 5843, which would make it a gross misdemeanor — punishable by up to 364 days in jail — for public officials and candidates to knowingly make false statements that incite and produce “lawless action.”
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The bill’s language, officials said, is intended to follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1969 decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio, which lays out the limited circumstances under which speech may be prohibited....
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