H-1923

AN ACT Relating to periodically maintaining voter registration lists; amending RCW 29.10.090, 29.10.180, and 29.10.040; and adding new sections to chapter 29.10 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 29.10.090 and 1994 c 57 s 41 are each amended to read as follows:

((The local registrar of vital statistics in cities of the first class shall submit monthly to the county auditor a list of the names and addresses, if known, of all persons over eighteen years of age who have died.))

In addition to case-by-case maintenance under RCW 29.10.071 and 29.10.075 and the general program of maintenance of voter registration lists under RCW 29.10.180, deceased voters will be canceled from voter registration lists as follows:

(1) Every month, the registrar of vital statistics of the state shall prepare a separate list of persons who resided in each county, for whom a death certificate was transmitted to the registrar and was not included on a previous list, and shall supply ((~~such monthly lists for each county of the state, exclusive of cities of the first class,~~)) the appropriate list to ((~~the~~)) each county auditor ((~~thereof~~)).

((~~The~~)) A county ((~~auditors~~)) auditor shall compare ((~~such lists~~)) this list with the registration records and cancel the registrations of deceased voters within at least forty-five days before the next primary or election held in the county after the auditor receives the list.

(2) In addition, the county auditor may also use newspaper obituary articles as a source of information in order to cancel a voter's registration. The auditor must verify the identity of the voter by matching the voter's date of birth or an address. The auditor shall record the date and source of the obituary in the cancellation records.

(3) In addition ((~~to the above manner of canceling registration records of deceased voters~~)), any registered voter may sign a statement, subject to the penalties of perjury, to the effect that to his or her personal knowledge or belief another registered voter is deceased. This statement may be filed with the county auditor. Upon the receipt of such signed statement, the county auditor shall cancel the registration records concerned and so notify the secretary of state. Upon receipt of such notice, the secretary of state shall in turn cancel his or her copy of said registration record.

The secretary of state as chief elections officer shall cause such form to be designed to carry out the provisions of this section. The county auditors shall have such forms available for public use. Further, each such public officer having jurisdiction of an election shall make available a reasonable supply of such forms for the use of the precinct election officers at each polling place on the day of an election.

Sec. 2. RCW 29.10.180 and 1994 c 57 s 44 are each amended to read as follows:

In addition to the case-by-case maintenance required under RCW 29.10.071 and 29.10.075 and the canceling of registrations under RCW 29.10.090, the county auditor shall establish a general program of voter registration list maintenance. This program must be a thorough review that is applied uniformly throughout the county and must be nondiscriminatory in its application. Any program established must be completed at least once every two years and not later than ninety days before the date of a primary or general election for federal office. The county may fulfill its obligations under this section in one of the following ways:

(1) The county auditor may enter into one or more contracts with the United States postal service, or its licensee, which permit the auditor to use postal service change-of-address information. If the auditor receives change of address information from the United States postal service that indicates that a voter has changed his or her residence address within the county, the auditor shall transfer the registration of that voter and send ((~~an acknowledgment~~)) a confirmation notice informing the voter of the transfer to the new address. If the auditor receives postal change of address information indicating that the voter has moved out of the county, the auditor shall send a confirmation notice to the voter((~~, send the voter a registration-by-mail form at the voter's new address,~~)) and advise the voter of the need to reregister in the new county. The auditor shall place the voter's registration on inactive status;

(2) A direct, nonforwardable, nonprofit or first-class((~~, return if undeliverable, address correction requested,~~)) mailing to every registered voter within the county bearing the postal endorsement "Return Service Requested." If address correction information for a voter is received by the county auditor after this mailing, the auditor shall place that voter on inactive status and shall send to the voter a confirmation notice;

(3) Any other method approved by the secretary of state.

Sec. 3. RCW 29.10.040 and 1994 c 57 s 36 are each amended to read as follows:

A registered voter who changes his or her residence from one county to another county, shall be required to register anew. ((~~Before registering anew,~~)) The voter shall sign an authorization to cancel his or her present registration. ((~~The authorization shall be on a form prescribed by the secretary of state by rule. The~~)) An authorization ((~~shall~~)) to cancel a voter's registration must be forwarded promptly to the county auditor of the county in which the voter was previously registered. The county auditor of the county where the previous registration was made shall cancel the registration of the voter if it appears that the signatures in the registration record and on the cancellation authorization form were made by the same person.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 29.10 RCW to read as follows:

In addition to the case-by-case cancellation procedure required in RCW 29.10.040, the county auditor, in conjunction with the office of the secretary of state, shall participate in an annual list maintenance program designed to detect persons registered in more than one county. This program must be applied uniformly throughout the county and must be nondiscriminatory in its application. The program must be completed not later than thirty days before the date of a primary or general election.

The office of the secretary of state shall cause to be created a list of registered voters with the same date of birth and similar names who appear on two or more county lists of registered voters. The office of the secretary of state shall forward this list to each county auditor so that they may properly cancel the previous registration of voters who have subsequently registered in a different county. The county auditor of the county where the previous registration was made shall cancel the registration of the voter if it appears that the signatures in the registration and the signature provided to the new county on the voter's new registration were made by the same person. The office of the secretary of state shall adopt rules to facilitate this process.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 29.10 RCW to read as follows:

The secretary of state shall create a standard electronic file format (state transfer form) to be used for the transfer of voter registration information between county auditors and the office of the secretary of state. The format must be prescribed by rule and contain at least the following information: Voter name, address, date of birth, date of registration, mailing address, legislative and congressional district, and digitized signature image. Each county shall program its voter registration system to convert this data from the county's storage format into the state transfer format. Every county shall complete this work by January 1, 2000. Each county may bill reasonable programming costs incurred by it to the office of the secretary of state by June 1, 2000.