| Passed by the House February 15, 2010 Yeas 98 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate March 4, 2010 Yeas 48 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Barbara Baker, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2496 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 61st Legislature | 2010 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 01/20/10.
AN ACT Relating to ballot design; and amending RCW 29A.36.161.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 29A.36.161 and 2004 c 271 s 132 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) On the top of each ballot must be printed clear and concise
instructions directing the voter how to mark the ballot, including
write-in votes. On the top of each primary ballot must be printed the
instructions required by this chapter.
(2) The ballot must have a clear delineation between the ballot
instructions and the first ballot measure or office through the use of
white space, illustration, shading, color, symbol, font size, or bold
type. The secretary of state shall establish standards for ballot
design and layout consistent with this act and RCW 29A.04.611.
(3) The questions of adopting constitutional amendments or any
other state measure authorized by law to be submitted to the voters at
that election must appear after the instructions and before any
offices.
(((3))) (4) In a year that president and vice president appear on
the general election ballot, the names of candidates for president and
vice president for each political party must be grouped together with
a single response position for a voter to indicate his or her choice.
(((4))) (5) On a general election ballot, the candidate or
candidates of the major political party that received the highest
number of votes from the electors of this state for the office of
president of the United States at the last presidential election must
appear first following the appropriate office heading. The candidate
or candidates of the other major political parties will follow
according to the votes cast for their nominees for president at the
last presidential election, and independent candidates and the
candidate or candidates of all other parties will follow in the order
of their qualification with the secretary of state.
(((5))) (6) All paper ballots and ballot cards used at a polling
place must be sequentially numbered in such a way to permit removal of
such numbers without leaving any identifying marks on the ballot.