HOUSE BILL REPORT

ESHB 3000

BYHouse Committee on State Government (originally sponsored by Representatives Todd, McLean, Anderson, R. Fisher, Wineberry and Wang)

Enacting the voters' rights act of 1990.

House Committe on State Government

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (7)

      Signed by Representatives Todd, Chair; Anderson, Vice Chair; McLean, Ranking Republican Member; R. Fisher, Hankins, Morris and O'Brien.

Minority Report:  Do not pass.  (1)

      Signed by Representative Silver.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 7, 1990

BACKGROUND:

Voter Registration.  A person desiring to register to vote must apply before a registrar.  The registrar must interrogate the applicant regarding the applicant's qualifications as an elector and must record the registration information.  The applicant must then sign an oath of registration.  A person who knowingly gives false information for the application or who knowingly makes false declarations regarding his or her qualifications in the oath is guilty of a class C felony.

The Election Code requires the secretary of state to design a uniform registration form and to furnish the forms to the county auditors without cost.

Whenever a voter registration card is sent by an auditor to a new registrant but is returned by the postal service as undeliverable, the auditor must initiate an inquiry into the validity of the registration of that voter.

Precinct Files - Closure.  State law requires that the registration files of precincts be closed against original voter registrations or transfers for 30 days immediately preceding each primary or election.  At least five days before the precinct files are closed, the county auditor must publish a notice of the closing of the files.

Vote Tallies.  State law requires absentee ballots to be grouped and counted by congressional and legislative district without regard to precinct.  Immediately after the official results of a state primary or general election in a county are known, the county auditor must prepare an abstract of the number of registered voters in each precinct and the votes cast in the county for and against state measures and for each candidate for federal, state, and legislative office and any other office that the secretary of state is required to canvass.

To be elected to the position of precinct committee officer, a person must receive at least 10 percent of the number of the votes cast for the candidate of that person's party who received the greatest number of votes in the precinct.

SUMMARY:

Registration with Licensing.  Before issuing a driver's license or identicard, a licensing agent of the Department of Licensing must determine whether the applicant wishes to register to vote or to transfer his or her voter registration.  If the applicant so chooses, the applicant may do so.  The application form to be used must contain certain specified information and any other information the the secretary of state determines is necessary to establish the identity of the applicant and to prevent duplicate or fraudulent registrations.  The form must also contain a warning identifying the penalty, prescribed by current law, for providing false information or making a false declaration regarding that information.  The applicant must sign the registration oath and sign a portion of the form that can be used as an initiative signature card for verifying petition signatures.

Completed forms are to be forwarded to the appropriate county auditors. The Department of Licensing must produce and transmit to the secretary of state certain registration information in a machine- readable form.  The secretary must sort the information by county and must deliver it, along with a list of registration transactions, to the appropriate county auditors.

The secretary of state must produce and distribute the supplies needed to implement this program and must adopt rules to insure the integrity of the voter registration process.  The secretary must also enter into agreements governing the services provided by the county auditors and the Department of Licensing in carrying out this form of voter registration.  The agreement must provide for the reimbursement of all costs incurred by the auditors and the Department for their related data processing services.  The secretary must include in the secretary's biennial budget request sufficient funds to carry out these voter registration provisions.

Registration by Mail or Delivery.   An elector may register to vote by mail or other delivery of a completed registration form to the county auditor.  In addition to the information an applicant for voter registration must provide a registration officer under other provisions of law, an applicant for registration by mail must provide:  his or her valid Washington driver's license number; or, if the applicant has no such license, a social security number; or, if the applicant has neither, the number from a valid Washington identicard.  If the application is without this identifying information, the auditor may not process the form until the information is provided.

The applicant must sign a registration oath.  The applicant must also sign a portion of the registration form which may be used as an initiative signature card by the secretary of state.  The registration form must contain a warning identifying the penalty for supplying false information or making a false declaration as to qualifications.

Upon receiving an application for registration by mail or delivery, the auditor must review the application to determine whether the information supplied is complete.  If it is not, the auditor must promptly send a notice of the deficiency to the applicant.  If it is complete, the applicant is considered to be registered as of the date of the postmark of the application or, if no postmark, as of the date the application was received by the auditor.  The auditor must send the applicant by first class mail a voter registration card. The postal service is to be instructed not to forward a voter registration card to any other address and to return undelivered cards to the auditor.  If such a voter registration card is returned as undeliverable, the registration of the voter must be immediately canceled.  Notice regarding the cancellation must be promptly sent to the voter.

The secretary of state must adopt an application form for registering by mail.  The secretary must furnish registration forms without cost to the counties.  A provision of law is repealed which entitles each deputy registrar, with certain exceptions, to receive a fee for each elector registered.

Extension of Registration Period.  An elector desiring to vote in a primary or election after the close of the precinct registration files for that primary or election may register in person in the office of the county auditor or at a location designated by the auditor.  To vote in that primary or election, the elector must register not later than the 15th day immediately preceding the primary or election and may vote only by absentee ballot.  Upon registering, the person must immediately apply for an absentee ballot.  The person's registration form and absentee ballot application are to be promptly transmitted to the county auditor. The county auditor must publish a notice regarding this special registration and absentee ballot voting procedure when the auditor announces the closing of the precinct files.

Registration in General.  The information which must by statute appear on all other voter registration forms is altered.  These other forms must contain a warning regarding the penalty for providing false information or falsely declaring qualifications as a voter.  In the oath an applicant must sign, the applicant must declare that he or she is a United States citizen and will have satisfied age and residency requirements by the time of voting.  A provision of law is repealed which requires the information on a registration form to be filled in by a registrar.  Also repealed is a provision which requires the county auditor to record certain identifying code numbers and precinct information on the registration record.  The form and format of the various registration and machine-readable records must be specified by the secretary by rule.

Tallying Absentee Ballots.  After a general election in an even-numbered year, the county auditor must provide the secretary a report of the number of absentee ballots cast in each precinct for and against state measures and for each candidate for federal, state, and legislative office and any other office which the secretary must canvass.  The report must be provided not later than March 31 of the next year.  The absentee ballot count may be incorporated into the votes cast at the polls for each precinct or separately.  If the absentee count is reported separately, the auditor may aggregate the results from more than one precinct if the auditor finds, under rules adopted by the secretary, that reporting them by single precinct would jeopardize the secrecy of a person's ballot.  The precincts to be included in such an aggregate must, to the extent practicable, be contiguous.

The rule of law that a person seeking the position of precinct committee officer must receive at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast for the candidate of that person's party who received the greatest number of votes in the precinct now applies only in limited circumstances.  It now applies only in an election for the position in which the only candidates for that position are write-in candidates.  That is, it does not apply if a person has filed as a candidate for that position during the normal filing period.

Appropriation:    $300,000.

Fiscal Note:      Requested January 31, 1990.

Effective Date:The provisions regarding registration with licensing take effect on January 1, 1992, except those requiring the secretary of state to adopt rules, establish agreements, and provide certain services.  The provisions regarding registration by mail take effect on January 1, 1991.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Representative Todd.

House Committee - Testified Against:      No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    This bill is a composite of the motor voter, registration by mail, 15-day registration, and absentee tally bills.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None.

VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      Yeas 88; Nays 6; Excused 4 - 2/7/90

Voting Nay: Representatives Fuhrman, Heavey, Locke, Nealey, Padden and Wolfe

Excused:    Representatives Appelwick, Doty, Gallagher and R. Meyers