By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
Democratic state lawmakers this year approved a new law to force local governments with histories of voting discrimination to get approval from the attorney general’s office before make changes to certain election rules. This month, Attorney General Nick Brown’s office announced the cities of Yakima and Pasco as well as Yakima County are the first three jurisdictions that will have to go through him to amend election policies. There's some frustration boiling up at the local level over the change.
Also in today’s edition…
The Justice Department threatens Washington election officials over noncitizen voting.
A private prison company sells two immigrant detention centers to the feds.
And, hopes for an economic boon from rural health funding.
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Ballot envelopes sit in the Thurston County elections center. (Photo by Laurel Demkovich/Washington State Standard)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
The new election oversight law fills a gap left by a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision that eliminated a federal Voting Rights Act process that had been in place for decades known as "preclearance." The three eastern communities subject to the new restrictions were picked for their histories of diluting the power of Latino voters through at-large council districts.
They'll now need state approval if they take steps like restricting interpreter services, limiting voter materials in languages other than English or any “change that may have the effect of denying, abridging, or diluting the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.”
Yakima Mayor Matt Brown is frustrated. He called the new law, “another example of Olympia creating costly, unnecessary mandates for local governments while centralizing more power in the Attorney General’s Office.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, seen here at the Justice Department last year. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
By Jerry Cornfield and Jake Goldstein-Street
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon on Tuesday warned election officers that they could be held criminally liable if they knowingly retain noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls or facilitate noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots, the latest threat from the Trump administration stoking unfounded fears of voter fraud. Dhillon is seeking a response within five days explaining how the state is complying with a slew of long-standing federal laws that prohibit noncitizens from voting in elections. She sent similar letters to several states.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said his office is reviewing Dhillon’s request to determine its legality but added that the Department of Justice is “accelerating down a slippery slope of threatening personal legal action against election administrators.”
The CoreCivic California City Immigration Processing Center in California City on Sept. 22, 2025. (Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos for CalMatters)
By Wendy Fry and Nigel Duara
CoreCivic is selling two of the largest immigration detention facilities in California to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The deal is worth $1.5 billion. The sale comes as congressional Republicans have fed tens of billions of dollars into expanding detention capacity. And the Department of Homeland Security has sought to purchase facilities elsewhere, as well.
By Laura Guido
Idaho officials say the $186 million the state is getting from a new federal rural health fund could be an economic boost for local contractors working on infrastructure projects paid for with the money. The five-year Rural Health Transformation Program was established in last year’s “big, beautiful” law. It’s meant to offset cuts to Medicaid that will hurt rural areas the most. Washington was awarded $181 million.
ICYMI
Human rights commissioner resigns amid antisemitism claims | by Jake Goldstein-Street
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