HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 5045

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Senators Talmadge and Newhouse)

Revising vote canvass and recount procedures.

House Committe on Constitution, Elections & Ethics

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (7)

      Signed by Representatives Fisher, Chair; Pruitt, Vice Chair; Amondson, Barnes, Fisch, Leonard and Sanders.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 27, 1987

BACKGROUND:

The counting of absentee ballots for a primary or election may not begin until after 8:00 p.m. on the day of a primary or election but must be completed by the tenth day following a primary or special election.  The canvassing period is extended by law to the fifteenth day following a general election.

If the difference in the number of votes cast for the top two candidates for nomination or election to a position is not more than 0.5 percent of the total number of votes cast for both candidates, the canvassing board must conduct a recount of all of the votes cast for that position.  No cost for such a mandatory recount may be charged to either candidate.

For other contests, if a recount is requested, the person requesting the recount must pay for the cost of the recount.  The application requesting such a recount must be accompanied by a deposit to be used for payment or partial payment of those costs. The rate established by law for determining the amount to be deposited varies.

The county auditor must have sufficient paper or ballot card absentee ballots prepared for use by absentee voters at least 20 days before each primary.

SUMMARY:

At the request of any caucus of the legislature, the county auditor shall transmit copies of all unofficial returns of state and legislative races to the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Clerk of the House. The county canvassing board shall complete the canvass and certify the results on the tenth day after a primary or special election and the fifteenth day after a general election.  (The canvassing board consists of the officers identified by law as being members or the designated representatives of those officials.)  All properly and timely voted absentee ballots that have been received on or before the date the primary or election is certified shall be included in the canvass.

Where the provisions of law require a recount of all of the votes cast for an office because of the narrowness of the margin separating the leading candidates, the Secretary of State is authorized to direct the appropriate canvassing boards to conduct the recount.

With regard to other contests, the election official with whom an application for a recount of the votes cast on an office or ballot measure must be filed is specified.  A single rate for determining the amount of the deposit that must accompany such an application is established.  It is set at five cents for each ballot cast in the jurisdiction, or portion of the jurisdiction, for which the recount is requested.  Such a recount must be conducted less than five days (rather than, under current law, not later than five days) after the day on which the application was filed or received.

Proceedings of the canvassing board are open public meetings and, subject to reasonable and equitable guidelines adopted by the canvassing board, all interested persons may attend and witness a recount.

A county auditor shall have sufficient absentee ballots ready to mail to absentee voters at least 20 days before a primary or election unless a recount or litigation (involving the printing of ballots, the certification of an election, or a wrongful act by or a neglect of duty on the part of an election officer) is pending.  A provision of law is repealed requiring such absentee ballots to be available which applies only when vote tallying systems are used in a primary.

Fiscal Note:      Requested March 23, 1987.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    John Pearson, Office of the Secretary of State.

House Committee - Testified Against:      Fred Saeger, Washington Association of County Officials; Sam Reed, County Auditors' Association.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (1) The bill clarifies statutory procedures for the recount of the votes cast at an election.  (2) The amount of money that must be deposited in support of a request for a recount that is not automatically required by law is unclear.  The bill establishes a uniform means of calculating the amount required.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      The provisions of the bill requiring that absentee ballots received on or after an election be counted on the day after the date they are received establishes a procedure that is costly and time consuming.  In a county for which the county's main frame computer is used to tabulate election results, all other users will have to be locked out of the use of the computer for a portion of each day for about two weeks to accomplish the task.  More personnel will have to be hired to process and tabulate the ballots received on the two days after an election, since most election workers will be exhausted from work on the election day and night yet most of the uncounted absentee ballots will be received during that period.