BILL REQ. #:  S-0139.1 

Read first time 01/28/2005.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to presidential electors; and adding a new section to chapter 29A.56 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 29A.56 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds:
     (a) The right to vote for president of the United States is a fundamental right and each person's vote is entitled to equal dignity and should count equally; and
     (b) The will of the Washington electorate would be best reflected by the popular proportional allocation of electoral college representatives, based on the number of ballots cast for the respective presidential tickets in Washington.
     (2) The total number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled shall be divided among the presidential tickets on the general election ballot, based upon the popular proportional share of the total statewide ballots cast for each presidential ticket, subject to subsections (3) and (4) of this section. Each presidential elector shall vote for the presidential candidate and, by separate ballot, vice-presidential candidate on the presidential ticket of the political party or political organization that nominated that presidential elector.
     (3) The allocation of a presidential ticket's popular proportion of this state's electoral votes shall be in whole numbers and shall be made in the following manner:
     (a) The total number of ballots cast in this state for each presidential ticket at a general election shall be divided by the total number of ballots cast for all presidential tickets that receive votes at that general election; and
     (b) The proportion of a presidential ticket's popular vote, as determined in (a) of this subsection, shall be multiplied by the number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled.
     (4) The number of electoral votes that is attributable to the ballots cast for any presidential ticket, as determined in subsection (3) of this section, shall be rounded to the nearest whole number, subject to the following limitations:
     (a) No presidential ticket may receive any electoral votes from Washington if its proportion of the total ballots cast for all presidential tickets would reflect less than a full electoral vote after rounding to the nearest whole number;
     (b) If the sum of electoral votes allocated under (a) of this subsection is greater than the number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled:
     (i) The allocation of electoral votes to the presidential ticket receiving at least one electoral vote and the fewest number of ballots cast shall be reduced by whole electoral votes until only that number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled have been allocated; and
     (ii) The process in (b)(i) of this subsection shall be repeated if, after the reduction of electoral votes in (b)(i) of this subsection, the total number of electoral votes allocated to all presidential tickets remains greater than the total number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled, and this process shall be applied to the presidential ticket receiving at least one electoral vote and the next fewest number of ballots cast until the total number of electoral votes allocated to all presidential tickets is equal to the number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled;
     (c) If the sum of all electoral votes allocated would be less than the number of electoral votes to which Washington is entitled, the presidential ticket receiving the greatest number of ballots cast shall receive any unallocated electoral votes until all of the electoral votes to which Washington is entitled have been allocated.
     (5) The secretary of state shall adopt rules to apportion the votes of the presidential electors under this section.