H-0769.1  _______________________________________________

 

                          HOUSE BILL 1540

          _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

 

By Representatives D. Schmidt and Romero

 

Read first time 01/28/1999.  Referred to Committee on State Government.

Requiring election procedures manuals.


    AN ACT Relating to elections; and adding a new section to chapter 29.04 RCW.

 

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

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 29.04 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) Each county auditor shall develop an election procedures manual for the county.  The manual must be organized clearly and written using text that is easily understood.  Copies of the manual must be distributed at cost to the public, upon request.

    The secretary of state shall assist in the preparation of these manuals by providing a model manual describing general election procedures.

    (2) The manual will describe general election procedures as well as election procedures unique to the county, including:

    (a) A discussion of different types of ballots, including absentee ballots, special absentee ballots, mail ballots, ballots cast at polling places, challenged ballots, and how these ballots are processed and tabulated;

    (b) A discussion of any electronic vote tallying systems that may be used by the county and how the systems are tested;

    (c) How the registration of a voter may be challenged;

    (d) A discussion of the county canvassing board and how election results are canvassed and certified;

    (e) A discussion of write-in voting and the tallying of write-in votes;

    (f) The circumstances and procedures when a true duplicate copy of a ballot will be made;

    (g) A discussion of observers appointed by major political parties;

    (h) A discussion of the circumstances and procedures for making appeals to the canvassing board;

    (i) A discussion of the recount of votes; and

    (j) Other matters specified by the secretary of state.

 


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