Washington’s Secretary of State plays Dungeons & Dragons with Spokane students

Steve Hobbs, who runs elections in Washington state as its Secretary of State, spent Monday at The Community School in Spokane, answering students’ questions about the November election and telling them that young people vote less than anyone. Then he joined the school’s Dungeons & Dragons club for a game.

6 October 2026

Steve Hobbs in a grey jacket sitting at a row of classroom desks with high school students, dice and character sheets on the tables, string lights on the ceiling and posters on the wall behind. — Steve Hobbs at the table with the D&D club at The Community School, Spokane, on Monday.
Photo: KHQ

The visit was one of several stops Hobbs made in eastern Washington on Monday, a little over a week before ballots go out in Spokane County on 14 October. At the school he took questions from students about how elections work and explained why he thinks their vote matters, pointing out that young people have the lowest turnout of any age group, KHQ reported.

A student’s raised hand in the foreground while Steve Hobbs, in a grey jacket, gestures as he answers questions in a classroom with string lights and posters. — A student puts a hand up while Hobbs answers questions about elections.
Photo: KHQ

If I can engage with young people and get them to vote, they’ll encourage their friends to vote, because that’s a really good way to get young people to vote: they need to encourage each other.Steve Hobbs, to KHQ

Steve Hobbs in a grey jacket and blue shirt talking to the camera in a school corridor. — Hobbs talking to KHQ at the school.
Photo: KHQ

Elizabeth Gallagher, a senior, said it was fun when people from outside came in to make sure the students learned something, and that she liked seeing a side of him that was not the official one.

He’s the Secretary of State, but he has a life outside of that. And it was very nice to see that personal side instead of that professional side.Elizabeth Gallagher, senior

The D&D club

Hobbs describes himself as a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, and after the questions he sat down and played with the school’s club. Levi Dietz, a junior, said it had not occurred to him that the official in charge of the state’s elections might be one.

Honestly, before this event, I did not expect him at all to be a Dungeons and Dragons nerd. Which kind of just makes me feel closer to the people I’m voting for.Levi Dietz, junior

Steve Hobbs leaning in at a desk beside a smiling student, both laughing, a traffic light and posters behind them. — Hobbs laughing with a player at the club’s table.
Photo: KHQ

Red and gold polyhedral dice and a character sheet on a desk beside a paper cup and a round sticker that reads Vote. — Dice and a character sheet on the club’s table, next to a Vote sticker.
Photo: KHQ

Hobbs said the relaxed setting was what made the visit for him, and before he left he gave the students the same message he had come to deliver.

The choices are in your hands, but you have to be able to do that. You’ve got to be able to vote and be engaged.Steve Hobbs

The rest of his day

Earlier he had toured his department’s new corporations and charities office on the Eastern Washington University campus, which opened this year, and met the Spokane County Auditor, Vicky Dalton, about next month’s election, KXLY reported. His advice to voters was to use a drop box, or to post their ballot early, because the state saw a large rise in ballots rejected for missing the postmark deadline after delays in postal processing.

Alaric Martin, a senior, said what he would take away from the afternoon was an anecdote.

Alaric Martin, a high school senior with curly dark hair, sitting with his chin on his hand in a classroom. — Alaric Martin, a senior, at the visit.
Photo: KHQ

Getting the chance to say that I played D and D with the Washington Secretary of State is just going to guarantee that I win two truths and a lie.Alaric Martin, senior

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Everything here, including all of the quotations, is from Rachel Turcotte’s report for KHQ in Spokane, published on 5 October 2026, and KXLY’s report of the same day on the rest of Hobbs’s visit. The photograph is a frame from KHQ’s video.