I don’t know about WA, but OR has postage-free ballot return. No need to go to a drop-box, if you don’t want to.
I remember the Dino Rossi election steals when they first happened.
It wasn't just the governor's race per se, it was like building a dam to divert a current forever.
I know you were being sarcastic about Republicans winning in Washington state, but I wonder "what if" the Gregoire machine had not stolen the governor's race from Rossi with endless recounts and "discovering" ballots still in voting booths in warehouses weeks later? Would a Rossi win have been the foundation of a political shift in the currents, too?
In the 2008 gubernatorial rematch, the Gregoire machine sued a major fundraising PAC that supported Rossi on October 7, 2010 as a last-ditch "October Surprise." It apparently worked, because Gregoire won the election and the lawsuit was dismissed "with prejudice" in 2010.
That was a tactic that was very reminiscent of the 2002 tactic used against Bill Simon (R) in California's gubernatorial election against Gray Davis (D). The Davis administration filed a lawsuit against the Simon family investment business over a payphone company. In August 2002, Simon's family business was found liable of fraud by a Los Angeles jury and awarded a $78 million judgment against the firm. In September an appeals court threw out the verdict.
However, the damage was done and Simon lost the election. Gray Davis was thrown out of office one year later over a "pay to play" scandal.
Watching the politics in Washington State in the 2000s was like watching California Democrat politics migrating north.
-PJ