Benton auditor rules if a GOP candidate voted illegally in the last election

The Benton County auditor on Monday dismissed a challenge accusing Jerrod Sessler, a failed candidate for Washington state’s 4th Congressional District seat, of providing false information for his voter registration.

John Trumbo accused Sessler of not living at the rural Prosser address where he registered to vote and then casting ballots in nine elections in Benton County. Both are Republicans.

Trumbo is a Kennewick city councilman, but was acting as a private citizen when he filed the challenge, he said.

The burden of proof rests with the challenger, who must provide “clear and convincing” evidence, said Benton County Auditor Brenda Chilton in her decision in Sessler’s favor.

Sessler said in a hearing Sept. 9 in Richland that he lived at the address he listed on his voter registration application in 2019 and lives there now, Chilton said.

Trumbo argued that Sessler did not live at the property he owns on Old Inland Empire Highway because he had not obtained an occupancy permit needed to reside in a house that is being built on the property, and he also had not obtained a temporary housing permit to live in a motor home parked at the site.

Trumbo said he believed Sessler actually was living “a good part of the time” with a neighbor, but did not provide proof of that, according to Chilton.

She said in her decision that the question of what permits Sessler possesses does not determine whether he physically resides on the property listed on his voter registration.

“Even though Mr. Sessler has provided what could be considered a traditional residential address, the fact that the law provides for voters to register at locations such as public parks — where taking up residence is ordinarily discouraged — suggests that the question of whether a person’s residence complies with local rules or ordinances is irrelevant when considering whether one can register as resident in that place for voting purposes,” Chilton said in her decision.

Trumbo told the Tri-City Herald on Monday that since he doesn’t know where Sessler lives, it was difficult to prove that he doesn’t live at the address on his voter registration.

“It is not over,” Trumbo said.

Sessler did not immediately reply Monday to a request for a comment on the decision.

Sessler said during the hearing that for voting purposes living on a property is sufficient, even if a person has not been staying in an ordinary home. He said there were multiple mobile homes on the property.

At the hearing, when Chilton asked him if there is a permanent house on the property where he now resides, Sessler said he had a problem with her questioning.

He said if he answered the question Trumbo and the Tri-City Herald would use the information to slander his character.

Sessler: ‘Nonstop’ attacks

Both Trumbo and Sessler were allowed to question each other in the Sept. 9 hearing.

When Trumbo pressed Sessler on where he was living now, Sessler declined to answer.

“I am a private person and I feel like I am due the same privacy that any other citizen is due to protect their family, especially in the kind of world that we live in today,” Sessler said. “As a result of the work that the challenger has undertaken, that is now completely shattered.”

He said he has had to install expensive security and has had to “walk out and confront people with guns to protect ourselves on our property.”

That is due to Trumbo’s “salacious” and “nonstop” attacks on him, Sessler said.

Three months ago Sessler went to court seeking a no-contact order against an opponent’s campaign manager, claiming that man also was harassing him and acting aggressively toward him.

Sessler was trying to get a protection order against Loren Culp’s campaign manager, Christopher Gergen, following a heated confrontation at a Yakima campaign event in May.

Sessler was one of six Republicans challenging Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., for his congressional seat in the .

Newhouse and Doug White, a Democrat, both from Yakima County, received the most votes and will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.