Sixteen candidates for local office circled around the atrium of the civic center on a recent night in a logging town near the southern crook of Puget Sound. One by one, they sat at tables of inquisitive voters for what was dubbed “candidate speed-dating.”
As Auditor Paddy McGuire, a Democrat, navigated the room, he was bombarded with questions from voters, some of whom have spent the past two years marinating in paranoia about the 2020 presidential election. Were there illegal immigrants on the county’s voting rolls? What surveillance was used to make sure the drop boxes where voters can deposit mail ballots are secure? Did he illegally delete election data?
