Tumwater mayoral candidate responds to elections office’s voter fraud allegations
Tumwater mayoral candidate Lance Brender received a letter in May from the Thurston County elections office, stating that he had signed and returned two ballots for the city’s Transportation Benefit District (TBD) tax measure that was the subject of a spring special election.
Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall confirmed for The Olympian on July 30 that the letter was sent from her office and that the matter was referred to the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
According to the letter, Brender signed and returned his own ballot for the April 22 election as well as a ballot belonging to Karen Mason.
It’s illegal to forge a signature or cast another person’s ballot, and attempting to vote when not qualified, attempting to vote more than once, or falsely signing the ballot declaration is a felony punishable by a mаximum imprisonment of five years, a maximum fine of $10,000, or both.
“Signing multiple ballot envelopes is a serious matter,” the letter states. “The ballot belonging to Karen was rejected by the Canvassing Board, and the vote did not count.”
Brender told The Olympian this week that he received the letter on May 17 and he called the Auditor’s Office to rectify the situation immediately.
He said Karen Mason is a former renter of his who lived in his home from August 2024 to March 2025 while he was interning with the U.S. Army’s Career Skills Program in England. He said the two ballots came to him several weeks apart; he was unaware Mason had changed her registration to his address, and he had never received anyone else’s ballot before. He assumed both were for him.
“While I did notice the second ballot was also regarding the TBD continuation tax, I thought there must have been some second vote regarding that initiative that I wasn’t aware of and did not check the ballot’s addressee,” he said. “I filled out the second ballot (both times voting in support of the measure), signed my own name and contact information, and returned it.”
Brender said he contacted the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on May 19, and he was told there wasn’t an active case against him at the time.
He said he hasn’t heard anything about the matter since then, and he’s yet to receive any notification from the auditor or prosecutor’s office.
“I take the democratic process very seriously and agree with the county auditor and prosecutor that ballot errors are serious matters,” Brender said. “However, I did not notice the addressee on the envelope wasn’t me, and I had no intention of signing or returning another voter’s ballot. I apologize to the public for the oversight and won’t let it happen again.”
The Olympian has reached out to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office about any investigation into the case.
Brender is running against current Tumwater city council member Leatta Dahlhoff for Tumwater Mayor this fall.
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 12:31 PM.
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