H-4821.1          _______________________________________________

                            SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2883

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              54th Legislature             1996 Regular Session

By House Committee on Government Operations (originally sponsored by Representatives Cairnes, Campbell, Talcott, D. Schmidt, Carrell, McMahan and Huff)

Read first time 02/02/96. 

Restricting use of mail voting in small precincts of large counties.

     AN ACT Relating to elections by mail in small precincts; and reenacting and amending RCW 29.36.120.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

     Sec. 1.  RCW 29.36.120 and 1994 c 269 s 1 and 1994 c 57 s 48 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

     (1) At any primary or election, general or special, the auditor of a county ((auditor)) with a population of less than five hundred thousand may, in any precinct having fewer than two hundred active registered voters at the time of closing of voter registration as provided in RCW 29.07.160, conduct the voting in that precinct by mail ballot.  In a county with a population of five hundred thousand or more, the auditor may, in a precinct having fewer than one hundred active registered voters, conduct the voting by mail ballot.  For any precinct ((having fewer than two hundred active registered voters)) where voting at a primary or a general election is conducted by mail ballot under this subsection, the county auditor shall, not less than fifteen days prior to the date of that primary or general election, mail or deliver to each active and inactive registered voter within that precinct a notice that the voting in that precinct will be by mail ballot, an application form for a mail ballot, and a postage prepaid envelope, readdressed to the issuing officer.  A mail ballot shall be issued to each voter who returns a properly executed application to the county auditor no later than the day of that primary or general election.  For all subsequent mail ballot elections in that precinct the application is valid so long as the voter remains active and qualified to vote.  In determining the number of registered voters in a precinct for the purposes of this section, persons who are ongoing absentee voters under RCW 29.36.013 shall not be counted.  Nothing in this section may be construed as altering the vote tallying requirements of RCW 29.62.090.

A registered voter may file written notice with the county auditor requesting that he or she vote at a normal polling place, rather than by mailed ballot under this subsection, and the county auditor shall assign the voter to vote at a normal polling place in another nearby precinct at any subsequent election, held sixty or more days after the notice was filed, if the auditor conducts an election by mailed ballot under this section in the voter's precinct.  The county auditor shall notify the voter by mail of the location of the nearby precinct where he or she shall vote at such elections.

(2) At any nonpartisan special election not being held in conjunction with a state primary or general election, the county, city, town, or district requesting the election pursuant to RCW 29.13.010 or 29.13.020 may also request that the election be conducted by mail ballot.  The county auditor may honor the request or may determine that the election is not to be conducted by mail ballot.  The decision of the county auditor in this regard is final.

     In no instance shall any special election be conducted by mail ballot in any precinct with two hundred or more active registered voters, or one hundred or more active registered voters in a county with a population of five hundred thousand or more, if candidates for partisan office are to be voted upon.

     For all special elections not being held in conjunction with a state primary or state general election where voting is conducted by mail ballot, the county auditor shall, not less than fifteen days prior to the date of such election, mail or deliver to each active registered voter a mail ballot and an envelope, readdressed to the issuing officer.  The auditor shall send each inactive voter either a ballot or an application to receive a ballot.  The auditor shall determine which of the two is to be sent.  If the inactive voter returns a voted ballot, the ballot shall be counted and the voter's status restored to active.  If the inactive voter completes and returns an application, a ballot shall be sent and the voter's status restored to active.

     (((2))) (3) For a two-year period beginning on June 9, 1994, and ending two years after June 9, 1994, the county auditor may conduct the voting in any precinct by mail for any primary or election, partisan or nonpartisan, using the procedures set forth in RCW 29.36.120 through 29.36.139.

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