BILL REQ. #:  H-1295.1 

Read first time 01/29/09.   Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs.

     AN ACT Relating to allowing voter registration up to and on election day; amending RCW 29A.08.145 and 29A.08.820; reenacting and amending RCW 29A.04.611; adding a new section to chapter 29A.08 RCW; and providing an effective date.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 29A.08.145 and 2006 c 97 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     This section establishes a special procedure which an elector not registered in the state may use to register to vote during the period beginning after the closing of registration for voting ((at the polls)) on election day under RCW 29A.08.140 and ending on the ((fifteenth)) day ((before)) of a primary, special election, or general election. A qualified elector in the state may register to vote in person in the office of the county auditor of the county in which the applicant resides, or at a voter registration location specifically designated for this purpose by the county auditor or secretary of state, and apply for ((an absentee)) a ballot for that primary or election. The auditor or registration assistant shall register that individual in the manner provided in this chapter. The application for ((an absentee)) a ballot executed by the newly registered voter for the primary or election that follows the execution of the registration shall be promptly transmitted to the auditor with the completed voter registration form.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 29A.08 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The county auditors and the secretary of state shall devise and implement a uniform statewide system that will allow for voter registration under RCW 29A.08.145 and protect ballot integrity beginning May 1, 2011. The system must provide for the sequestering of a ballot issued pursuant to RCW 29A.08.145 until the county auditor has verified the new voter registration by the secretary of state pursuant to RCW 29A.08.107. Only after the verification of the new registration has been completed shall the ballot be tabulated.
     (2) If a voter registration application submitted pursuant to RCW 29A.08.145 is not complete under RCW 29A.08.110, or if the information on the voter registration application cannot be matched by the secretary of state pursuant to RCW 29A.08.107, and the deficiency or discrepancy has not been resolved prior to certification of the election, the ballot submitted by the applicant shall not be tabulated.

Sec. 3   RCW 29A.08.820 and 2006 c 320 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except for subsection (4) of this section, challenges initiated by a registered voter against a voter who registered to vote less than sixty days before the election, or who changed residence less than sixty days before the election without transferring his or her registration, must be filed not later than ten days before any primary or election, general or special, or within ten days of the voter being added to the voter registration database, whichever is later, at the office of the appropriate county auditor. Challenges initiated by a registered voter against any other voter must be filed not later than forty-five days before the election. Challenges initiated by the office of the county prosecuting attorney must be filed in the same manner as challenges initiated by a registered voter.
     (2)(a) If the challenge is filed within forty-five days before an election at which the challenged voter is eligible to vote, a notation of the challenge must be made immediately in the poll book or voter registration system, and the county canvassing board presides over the hearing.
     (b) If the challenge is filed before the challenged voter's ballot is received, the ballot must be treated as a challenged ballot. A challenged ballot received at a polling place must be placed in a sealed envelope separate from other voted ballots.
     (c) If the challenge is filed after the challenged voter's ballot is received, the challenge cannot affect the current election.
     (3) If the challenge is filed at least forty-five days before an election at which the challenged voter is eligible to vote, the county auditor presides over the hearing.
     (4) Challenges initiated by a registered voter against a voter who registered to vote pursuant to RCW 29A.08.145 must be filed at a time as prescribed in rules adopted by the secretary of state pursuant to RCW 29A.04.611.

Sec. 4   RCW 29A.04.611 and 2006 c 207 s 1 and 2006 c 206 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     The secretary of state as chief election officer shall make reasonable rules in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW not inconsistent with the federal and state election laws to effectuate any provision of this title and to facilitate the execution of its provisions in an orderly, timely, and uniform manner relating to any federal, state, county, city, town, and district elections. To that end the secretary shall assist local election officers by devising uniform forms and procedures.
     In addition to the rule-making authority granted otherwise by this section, the secretary of state shall make rules governing the following provisions:
     (1) The maintenance of voter registration records;
     (2) The preparation, maintenance, distribution, review, and filing of precinct maps;
     (3) Standards for the design, layout, and production of ballots;
     (4) The examination and testing of voting systems for certification;
     (5) The source and scope of independent evaluations of voting systems that may be relied upon in certifying voting systems for use in this state;
     (6) Standards and procedures for the acceptance testing of voting systems by counties;
     (7) Standards and procedures for testing the programming of vote tallying software for specific primaries and elections;
     (8) Standards and procedures for the preparation and use of each type of certified voting system including procedures for the operation of counting centers where vote tallying systems are used;
     (9) Standards and procedures to ensure the accurate tabulation and canvassing of ballots;
     (10) Consistency among the counties of the state in the preparation of ballots, the operation of vote tallying systems, and the canvassing of primaries and elections;
     (11) Procedures to ensure the secrecy of a voter's ballot when a small number of ballots are counted at the polls or at a counting center;
     (12) The use of substitute devices or means of voting when a voting device at the polling place is found to be defective, the counting of votes cast on the defective device, the counting of votes cast on the substitute device, and the documentation that must be submitted to the county auditor regarding such circumstances;
     (13) Procedures for the transportation of sealed containers of voted ballots or sealed voting devices;
     (14) The acceptance and filing of documents via electronic facsimile;
     (15) Voter registration applications and records;
     (16) The use of voter registration information in the conduct of elections;
     (17) The coordination, delivery, and processing of voter registration records accepted by driver licensing agents or the department of licensing;
     (18) The coordination, delivery, and processing of voter registration records accepted by agencies designated by the governor to provide voter registration services;
     (19) Procedures to receive and distribute voter registration applications by mail;
     (20) Procedures for a voter to change his or her voter registration address within a county by telephone;
     (21) Procedures for a voter to change the name under which he or she is registered to vote;
     (22) Procedures for canceling dual voter registration records and for maintaining records of persons whose voter registrations have been canceled;
     (23) Procedures for the electronic transfer of voter registration records between county auditors and the office of the secretary of state;
     (24) Procedures and forms for declarations of candidacy;
     (25) Procedures and requirements for the acceptance and filing of declarations of candidacy by electronic means;
     (26) Procedures for the circumstance in which two or more candidates have a name similar in sound or spelling so as to cause confusion for the voter;
     (27) Filing for office;
     (28) The order of positions and offices on a ballot;
     (29) Sample ballots;
     (30) Independent evaluations of voting systems;
     (31) The testing, approval, and certification of voting systems;
     (32) The testing of vote tallying software programming;
     (33) Standards and procedures to prevent fraud and to facilitate the accurate processing and canvassing of absentee ballots and mail ballots, including standards for the approval and implementation of hardware and software for automated signature verification systems;
     (34) Standards and procedures to guarantee the secrecy of absentee ballots and mail ballots;
     (35) Uniformity among the counties of the state in the conduct of absentee voting and mail ballot elections;
     (36) Standards and procedures to accommodate out-of-state voters, overseas voters, and service voters;
     (37) The tabulation of paper ballots before the close of the polls;
     (38) The accessibility of polling places and registration facilities that are accessible to elderly and ((disabled persons)) individuals with disabilities;
     (39) The aggregation of precinct results if reporting the results of a single precinct could jeopardize the secrecy of a person's ballot;
     (40) Procedures for conducting a statutory recount;
     (41) Procedures for filling vacancies in congressional offices if the general statutory time requirements for availability of absentee ballots, certification, canvassing, and related procedures cannot be met;
     (42) Procedures for the statistical sampling of signatures for purposes of verifying and canvassing signatures on initiative, referendum, and recall election petitions;
     (43) Standards and deadlines for submitting material to the office of the secretary of state for the voters' pamphlet;
     (44) Deadlines for the filing of ballot titles for referendum bills and constitutional amendments if none have been provided by the legislature;
     (45) Procedures for the publication of a state voters' pamphlet;
     (46) Procedures for conducting special elections regarding nuclear waste sites if the general statutory time requirements for availability of absentee ballots, certification, canvassing, and related procedures cannot be met;
     (47) Procedures for conducting partisan primary elections;
     (48) Standards and procedures for the proper conduct of voting during the early voting period to provide accessability for the blind or visually impaired;
     (49) Standards for voting technology and systems used by the state or any political subdivision to be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence, as other voters;
     (50) All data formats for transferring voter registration data on electronic or machine-readable media for the purpose of administering the statewide voter registration list required by the Help America Vote Act (P.L. 107-252);
     (51) Defining the interaction of electronic voter registration election management systems employed by each county auditor to maintain a local copy of each county's portion of the official state list of registered voters;
     (52) Provisions and procedures to implement the state-based administrative complaint procedure as required by the Help America Vote Act (P.L. 107-252);
     (53) Facilitating the payment of local government grants to local government election officers or vendors; ((and))
     (54) Standards for the verification of signatures on absentee, mail, and provisional ballot envelopes; and
     (55) Provisions and procedures for voter registration challenges, consistent with the requirements of RCW 29A.08.810, of voters who register on or within fourteen days before a primary, special, or general election under RCW 29A.08.145.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   Sections 1, 3, and 4 of this act take effect May 1, 2011.