HB 1785 - DIGEST

Requires the secretary of state to: (1) In conjunction with the Washington state association of county auditors, develop a uniform ballot format to be used by each county;

(2) In consultation with the department of enterprise services and with county auditors, develop a master contract for vote tallying equipment for purchase by counties;

(3) In consultation with county auditors: (a) Establish voter registration standards by which county election officials must manage new and existing voter registrations; and (b) develop and publish mandatory voting system maintenance and replacement standards.

(4) Convene and facilitate a work group to review voter registration practices; and

(5) Conduct a comprehensive survey of voting systems in use in each county.

Requires a county auditor or county council to establish an equipment replacement fund that must be used explicitly to replace vote tallying equipment.

Requires the county auditors to: (1) Ensure that a minimum of one permanent ballot drop box is available for every fifteen thousand county residents; and

(2) Determine the location of each ballot drop box.

Requires a county to be in full compliance with the voting system maintenance and replacement standards published by the secretary of state.