S-0363.3  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5267

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Senators Sheldon, Haugen and Wood

Read first time 01/17/95.  Referred to Committee on Government Operations.

Establishing filing fees and tabulation procedures for write-in candidates.

    AN ACT Relating to write-in candidates; and amending RCW 29.04.180 and 29.54.085.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 29.04.180 and 1990 c 59 s 100 are each amended to read as follows:

    Any person who desires to be a write-in candidate and have such votes counted at a primary or election may, if the jurisdiction of the office sought is entirely within one county, file a declaration of candidacy with the county auditor not later than the day before the primary or election.  If the jurisdiction of the office sought encompasses more than one county the declaration of candidacy shall be filed with the secretary of state not later than the day before the primary or election.  Declarations of candidacy for write-in candidates must be accompanied by a filing fee in the same manner as required of other candidates filing for the office as provided in RCW 29.15.050.

    Votes cast for write-in candidates who have filed such declarations of candidacy and write-in votes for persons appointed by political parties pursuant to RCW 29.18.160 need only specify the name of the candidate in the appropriate location on the ballot in order to be counted.  Write-in votes cast for any other candidate, in order to be counted, must designate the office sought and position number or political party, if applicable.

    No person may file as a write-in candidate where:

    (1) At a general election, the person attempting to file either filed as a write-in candidate for the same office at the preceding primary or the person's name appeared on the ballot for the same office at the preceding primary;

    (2) The person attempting to file as a write-in candidate has already filed a valid write-in declaration for that primary or election, unless one or the other of the two filings is for the office of precinct committeeperson;

    (3) The name of the person attempting to file already appears on the ballot as a candidate for another office, unless one of the two offices for which he or she is a candidate is precinct committeeperson.

    The declaration of candidacy shall be similar to that required by RCW 29.15.010.  No write-in candidate filing under RCW 29.04.180 may be included in any voter's pamphlet produced under chapter 29.80 RCW unless that candidate qualifies to have his or her name printed on the general election ballot.  The legislative authority of any jurisdiction producing a local voter's pamphlet under chapter 29.81A RCW may provide, by ordinance, for the inclusion of write-in candidates in such pamphlets.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 29.54.085 and 1990 c 59 s 33 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) The ballots picked up from the precincts during the polling hours may be counted before the polls have closed.  Election returns from the count of these ballots must be held in secrecy until the polls have been closed as provided by RCW 29.54.018.

    (2) Write-in votes shall not be tallied separately for a write-in candidate who has not filed as a write-in candidate under RCW 29.04.180, unless the number of such votes for a write-in candidate would result in the nomination or election of that candidate.

(3) Upon breaking the seals and opening the ballot containers from the precincts, all voted ballots shall be manually inspected for damage, write-in votes, and incorrect or incomplete marks.  If it is found that any ballot is damaged so that it cannot properly be counted by the vote tallying system, a true duplicate copy shall be made of the damaged ballot in the presence of witnesses and substituted for the damaged ballot.  All damaged ballots shall be kept by the county auditor until sixty days after the primary or election.

    (((3))) (4) The returns produced by the vote tallying system, to which have been added the counts of questioned ballots, write-in votes, and absentee votes, constitute the official returns of the primary or election in that county.

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