S-0126.1/91 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5144
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1991 Regular Session
By Senator Metcalf.
Read first time January 22, 1991. Referred to Committee on Governmental Operations.
AN ACT Relating to presidential electors; amending RCW 29.71.020 and 29.71.040; and providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 29.71.020 and 1990 c 59 s 69 are each amended to read as follows:
In the year in which a presidential election is held, each major political party and each minor political party or independent candidate convention held under chapter 29.24 RCW that nominates candidates for president and vice‑president of the United States shall nominate presidential electors for this state. Each party shall nominate one elector from each of the congressional districts of this state and two electors at large to represent the whole state. The party or convention shall file with the secretary of state a certificate signed by the presiding officer of the convention at which the presidential electors were chosen, listing the names and addresses of the presidential electors. Each presidential elector shall execute and file with the secretary of state a pledge that, as an elector, he or she will vote for the candidates nominated by that party. The names of presidential electors shall not appear on the ballots. The votes cast for candidates for president and vice‑president of each political party shall be counted for the candidates for presidential electors of that political party and tabulated both by congressional district and state-wide.
Sec. 2. RCW 29.71.040 and 1977 ex.s. c 238 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
The electors of the president and vice president shall convene at the seat of government on the day fixed by federal statute, at the hour of twelve o'clock noon of that day. If there is any vacancy in the office of an elector occasioned by death, refusal to act, neglect to attend, or otherwise, the electors present shall immediately proceed to fill it by viva voce, and plurality of votes. When all of the electors have appeared and the vacancies have been filled they shall constitute the college of electors of the state of Washington, and shall proceed to perform the duties required of them by the Constitution and laws of the United States. The electors representing the congressional districts shall each vote for the candidates who won the popular vote in their individual districts, and the electors at large shall vote for the candidates who won the popular vote on a state-wide basis. Any elector who votes for a person or persons not nominated by the party of which he or she is an elector shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to a fine of one thousand dollars.