MARYSVILLE— Scott Presler, son of a retired Navy Captain and founder of Early Vote Action, spoke to approximately 300 at Reset Church in Marysville on Sunday on the need for true grassroots efforts in Washington state to collect signatures for Initiative Measure IL26-126. The initiative, sponsored by the Washington State Republican Party, would require voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote, replacing the current “honor system” where applicants simply check a box affirming citizenship on the registration form.
“I want to make it clear,” Presler told the crowd, “I am here to make sure that we are going to have election integrity in our elections. But the only way that we do that is through initiatives, through ballot measures to elect good people in the office.”
If passed by voters in November 2026, new registrants must provide acceptable government-issued documents proving citizenship (e.g., birth certificates, passports, or certain state IDs). County auditors would be required to audit existing voter rolls by cross-referencing with the Department of Licensing and other records; voters lacking documented proof would be notified and given time to resolve the issue (potentially requiring in-person presentation), or face removal from the rolls.
The new law, which aligns state practices with federal election laws, would also establish uniform statewide standards for verification while allowing local election officials some flexibility in implementation.
In Washington state, Presler stated, the initiative process allows citizens to bypass the Democrat-controlled government trifecta—Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of government—impeding voter integrity legislation.
“Unless they’re gonna nuke the filibuster, Congress is not gonna be able to pass the SAVE Act,” said Presler sharing the importance of the voter id initiative to Washingtonians. “It’s not gonna be able to pass legislation to perform election integrity.”
The “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” or the “SAVE Act,” introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX21), if passed by Congress, would require individuals registering to vote to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in person. It would also mandate that states establish or strengthen ongoing voter-roll maintenance programs to identify and remove non-citizens who may have been inadvertently registered, including through real-time cross-checks with federal citizenship databases.
Sunday’s event was the start of a five-day tour across nine locations throughout Washington state by the conservative firebrand who was the unstoppable force behind Donald J Trump’s 2024 landslide victories in battleground states. He is focusing efforts to collect the remaining signatures for IL26-126—needing over 300,000 by January 2, 2026, with half already gathered.
Presler also encouraged support for Let’s Go Washington initiatives’ IL26-001, aimed at strengthening communication between parents and schools, and IL26-638, intended to protect fairness in girls’ sports by addressing biological males in women’s competitions and facilities.
“And although I am pretty, I know that I’m a biological man,” Presler said. “And a man is a provider and a protector. And the ‘men’ of this state of Washington have failed women. And they’ve failed our girls. And they have failed our daughters.”
He directed attendees to sign the petitions on-site, which many did, and take blank forms to collect 20 more signatures each to meet signature requirements.
Presler’s Washington state tour schedule includes:
- Sunday, November 16: Gig Harbor High School, 1-2 p.m., Gig Harbor; Reset Church, 4-6 p.m., Marysville.
- Monday, November 17: Battle Ground Event Center, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Battle Ground; Grays Harbor GOP Office, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Aberdeen.
- Tuesday, November 18: Island View Worship Center, 5 p.m., Richland.
- Wednesday, November 19: Flame & Brew, 12 p.m., Yakima; The Black Diamond, 6 p.m., Spokane.
- Thursday, November 20: Crossroads Park Theater, 12-3 p.m., Bellevue; Elysian Event and Conference Center, 5-8 p.m., Kent.
WSRP Chair Jim Walsh shared with the Lynnwood Times that by utilizing the voter initiative process to boost conservative turnout in the 2026 general election coupled with Presler’s efforts, he anticipates Republican gains in the Washington State Legislature.
“He’s already turbocharging our signature gathering,” Walsh told the Lynnwood Times on Presler’s efforts bridging the enthusiasm gap with voters. “And it’s helping the other petitions as well. So, there’s no doubt he’s helping already with turnout…. We’re on track, and hopefully we can finish strong”
Walsh shared that left-wing groups have launched a campaign of misinformation falsely stating that the voter id initiative is a “poll tax” and that “people [need] to get an enhanced driver’s license.”
“A poll tax is a tax you have to pay, or a fee, in order to vote,” said Walsh. “This is about registering different things. So, the poll tax argument is very deceitful and misleading. And they know it is. They’re just lying.”
During his address to attendees at Reset Church, Walsh clarified further misinformation allegedly reported by the Seattle Times falsely stating that the voter id initiative would end mail-in voting.
“What it does is it charges the local election officials in 38 counties, that’s your county auditor—and in King County, it is a separately elected elections administrator—to essentially check the citizenship,” Walsh said. “So, it’s the local election official at the county level who has to see proof of citizenship before registering someone to vote. Now, the initiative doesn’t do anything about voting. It doesn’t change mail-in voting, and the Seattle Times screwed that all up by saying it would end mail-in voting. It doesn’t end mail-in voting.”
The League of Women Voters opposes Initiative Measure IL26-126 in Washington state, viewing it as part of broader efforts to complicate voter registration and maintenance. They argue the measure is burdensome for eligible voters, costly for counties to implement, and unnecessary, citing that “noncitizen voting” is negligible according to various studies. The organization further dismisses the need for voter id requirements stating that federal and state laws already prohibit noncitizen voting with penalties including fines, imprisonment, and deportation.
Presler opened with his personal journey from dog walker to citizen activist. He stressed the importance of community engagement to “ground-up” victories and argued that such involvement leads to Republican victories by organizing at the local level: mayor, city council, school board, state representative, and state senate.
Following President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection win, he then understood that without engaging in his community through door knocking and get-out-the-vote activities, candidates don’t win. So, he started volunteering for campaigns, including traveling to Texas to help elect Governor Greg Abbott. He also supported Donald J Trump’s 2016 election.
In 2019 he organized and led a trash cleanup event in Baltimore that inspired other similar events in major U.S. cities—Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Portland, and San Francisco—proving to himself that engagement doesn’t only have to be political and further reinforcing his belief that regular citizens can achieve more than government through acts of community service.
“Seven days after I announced we were going to Baltimore, we got 200 volunteers and we picked up 12 tons of trash in 12 hours in one single day in the most dangerous streets of America,” Presler said. “And truly that day I realized it edified why I am a Republican and why I’m a conservative. Because I believe that concerned citizens coming together in an act of love could do more good than the government with all of its power, all of its money, all of its might ever could.”
Presler then founded Early Vote Action in 2023 after the 2020 election, in an “all of the above” approach to voting and worked with Amish communities in Pennsylvania to utilize mail-in ballots which resulted in increased voter participation on Election Day as their traditional wedding period encompass that day. Through massive voter registration efforts by his Early Vote Action network in Pennsylvania, some 50,000 voters were registered by 2024, which he attributes to winning the state and contributed to President Trump’s 2024 reelection victory.
“One thing that I love that Donald Trump has done for our party and done for our country is he has taught us how to fight,” said Presler. “And I say peacefully fight, of course. We fight with ballots, not bullets; we are not the left…we are not the Democrat Party. But furthermore, I say, especially to these people outside [protesting], to every Republican in this room, I am tired of being the nice guy. I am tired of rolling over…. The MO going forward of our party if we want to take back our country is we are going to fight fire with a gosh darn flame thrower.”
Presler outlined plans to extend similar initiative promoting efforts in Oregon, where he aims to end automatic vote-by-mail, and California, to also implement voter ID requirements. He framed these efforts as part of a broader strategy to drive voter turnout in 2026, flipping House seats from Democrat to Republican and protecting Trump’s America First agenda.
Presler warned of complacency, noting recent Democrat gains—governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, and three Democratic Supreme Court justices in Pennsylvania. He criticized “MAGA” voters as often participating only every four years and urged continuous activism and voting in every election to avoid losses in 2025, 2026, and 2027.
“My goal and my hope is by empowering the people to understand that it is you who are the masters of your destiny,” said Presler. “Even if you’re not happy with the party right now, I implore you, knowing the leadership of Jim, join WAGOP.com. Become a precinct committee official. Become the PC chair, the PC captain, and let’s create a party and an infrastructure and an apparatus that is going to steer the Democrats and get out Ferguson in 2026.”
Author: Mario Lotmore
