Voter Registration. Persons who are age 18 or older, are United States citizens, have lived in the state, county, and precinct for 30 days immediately preceding an election, and have not been convicted of an infamous crime, defined as a felony conviction, are entitled to vote under the Washington State Constitution.
Upon a felony conviction, the defendant is required by the court to sign a statement acknowledging, among other things, the person's right to vote has been lost, their voter registration will be canceled, the ways in which the person's right to vote may be restored, and that the person must reregister before voting. A person with a felony conviction may have their voting rights provisionally restored upon completion of their sentence in a Department of Corrections (DOC) facility and, if applicable, completion of a period of community custody. A person may have their voting rights permanently restored after serving a sentence for a felony conviction by:
Prior to the termination of its authority over an inmate, DOC must notify the inmate in writing of the process to provisionally and permanently restore the inmate's voting rights.
Voter Roll Maintenance. At least twice a year, the Secretary of State must compare lists of persons who have lost voting rights due to incarceration and who have had a provisional restoration of rights revoked against the list of registered voters. If a person appears to be ineligible to vote, the Secretary of State must confirm that person's identity by matching the dates of birth on each list prior to suspending that person from the list of registered voters.
Community Custody. Certain felony offenses require the offender to serve a period of community custody after completing their sentence in a DOC facility, with periodic reporting to DOC and certain court-imposed conditions. These offenses include:
Any person who violates a condition or requirement of a term of community custody may be sentenced by a court up to 60 days of additional confinement or, by DOC, up to 30 days of additional confinement for each violation.
Legal Financial Obligations. When a person is convicted of a crime, the court may impose legal financial obligations (LFOs) such as restitution, crime victims' compensation fees, costs associated with the person's prosecution and sentencing, fines, penalties, and other assessments, as part of the judgment and sentence. The requirement that an offender pay a monthly sum toward a legal financial obligation is a condition of the sentence, and an offender is subject to penalties for noncompliance.
A provisional restoration of voting rights may be revoked if the person willfully fails to comply with LFOs. If a person fails to make three payments towards the balance of their LFOs in a 12-month period and the county clerk or restitution recipient requests, the prosecutor must seek to revoke that person's provisional voting right.
Voter Registration. The right to vote is automatically restored to persons with felony convictions once the person is not serving a sentence of total confinement under DOC jurisdiction. A person who served a sentence of total confinement under DOC jurisdiction for a felony conviction must reregister to vote after automatic restoration of rights to be placed on the voter rolls. Provisions authorizing revocation of a person's voting right for reason of failure to pay LFOs are removed.
"Total confinement" is defined as 24-hour confinement inside the physical boundaries of a facility or institution operated or used under contract by the state, or any other unit of government, but does not include confinement imposed as a sanction for a community custody violation.
Voter Roll Maintenance. At least once a month, the Secretary of State must compare the list of registered voters to a list of persons not eligible to vote due to serving a sentence of total confinement under the jurisdiction of DOC.
Other Provisions. A defendant convicted of a felony must sign a statement acknowledging the loss of their voting rights only if that person is sentenced to a term of total confinement under the jurisdiction of DOC. Conforming changes are made to the voter registration oath, voter declaration, and statutory eligibility for the jury service pool.
DOC must provide the required notice prior to release from, or transfer to partial confinement from, total confinement under DOC jurisdiction, but is not required to provide the specified voter registration information to persons who are released from a DOC facility to an out-of-state jurisdiction or to a federal detention center, pursuant to a felony conviction.