Grow That Government!

What does it take to make a state‐​level Republican policymaker work to grow the power of the Obama Administration? Not much! Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman is a case in point.


In the wake of a shooting at a Macy’s in Mount Vernon, Washington, late last month, Secretary Wyman called for Washington State to comply with the national ID program run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the REAL ID Act.


Secretary Wyman’s rationale for joining the national ID is that state authorities (including, for some reason, election officials) were unable to immediately identify the citizenship status of the shooter (who turned out to be a naturalized American citizen).


Washington State has hitherto declined to embrace REAL ID, and has been one of the states most actively pushing back against the federal program. Secretary Wyman argues that adopting REAL ID would allow the state to more quickly access federal databases and records and help prevent voter fraud in Washington State elections.


Whatever a state’s need for securing their vote, that’s no reason to join the national ID system. And REAL ID is a bloated, costly, and opaque federal program. Compliance would require Washington State to share its drivers’ personal data and copies of their digitally scanned documents with departments of motor vehicles across the country through a nationwide data sharing system. This database sharing is a two way street: Secretary Wyman might be able to access other jurisdiction’s databases, but any bad actor in a DMV from California to Connecticut could access Washington State’s.


In the wake of recent DMV hacking scandals in Louisiana and elsewhere, this concern is not overblown. Because of the hacking and identity fraud risks, and the lack of any real national security benefit, adoption of REAL ID would only make Washingtonians less safe.