BILL REQ. #:  H-3683.1 

Read first time 01/10/2006.   Referred to Committee on State Government Operations & Accountability.

     AN ACT Relating to enhancing guidelines for the signature verification process in elections; and amending RCW 29A.04.530.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 29A.04.530 and 2005 c 243 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The secretary of state shall:
     (1) Establish and operate, or provide by contract, training and certification programs for state and county elections administration officials and personnel, including training on the various types of election law violations and discrimination, and training programs for political party observers which conform to the rules for such programs established under RCW 29A.04.630;
     (2)(a) Establish guidelines, in consultation with state and local law enforcement or certified document examiners, for signature verification processes. The guidelines shall include the following information:
     (i) When a person attempts to imitate another person's signature, he or she typically attempts to copy the most obvious features, such as size, capital letters, and slant and, as a result, heightened scrutiny should be given to unusual ways of writing;
     (ii) When a person attempts to imitate another person's signature, such an attempt typically includes indications of a lack of fluency, such as: Writing that is stilted; has tremor; has unnatural stops and starts; has patching where the writer goes back and attempts to repair what was previously written; or lacks regularity or consistency;
     (iii) Natural writing often has pressure that alternates, such as light upstrokes and dark downstrokes;
     (iv) In evaluating spacing, the reviewer must consider: The amount of horizontal space taken up by each letter; space between letters, punctuation, and words; height or size of letters, including proportions relating to uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and lower loops; and placement of the signature on any signature line and whether the signature is indented on the line; and
     (v) In evaluating the form of the signature, the reviewer must consider the shape of letters and punctuation, including strokes that begin and end a word or letter, strokes that connect letters to each other, and the shape and placement of other strokes.
     (b) All election personnel assigned to verify signatures must receive training on the guidelines;
     (3) Administer tests for state and county officials and personnel who have received such training and issue certificates to those who have successfully completed the training and passed such tests;
     (4) Maintain a record of those individuals who have received such training and certificates; and
     (5) Provide the staffing and support services required by the board created under RCW 29A.04.510.