CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

                        HOUSE BILL 1648

                        53rd Legislature

                      1993 Regular Session

Passed by the House March 16, 1993   Yeas 97   Nays 0 Speaker of the        House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 21, 1993   Yeas 32   Nays 16

CERTIFICATE I, Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1648 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.

President of the Senate

Chief Clerk

Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.

FILED

Governor of the State of Washington

Secretary of State                        State of Washington

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                                                      HOUSE BILL 1648

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                                                       Passed Legislature - 1993 Regular Session

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Representatives Wineberry, Anderson, Veloria, Pruitt, King, Springer, Leonard and J. Kohl

Read first time 02/03/93.  Referred to Committee on State Government.

Extending the voter registration period.

          AN ACT Relating to elections; amending RCW 29.07.160; and adding a new section to chapter 29.07 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 29.07 RCW to read as follows:

          This section establishes a special procedure which an elector may use to register to vote during the period beginning after the closing of registration for voting at the polls under RCW 29.07.160 and ending on the fifteenth day before a primary, special election, or general election.  During this period, the unregistered qualified elector may register to vote in person in the office of the county auditor or at a voter registration location specifically designated for this purpose by the county auditor of the county in which the applicant resides, and apply for an absentee ballot for that primary or election.  The auditor or voter registrar shall register that individual in the manner provided in this chapter.  The application for an absentee 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.

        Sec. 2.  RCW 29.07.160 and 1980 c 3 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

          The registration files of all precincts shall be closed against original registration or transfers for thirty days immediately preceding every primary, special election, and general election ((and primary)) to be held in such precincts((, respectively)).

          The county auditor shall give notice of the closing of ((said)) the precinct files for original registration and transfer and notice of the special registration and voting procedure provided by section 1 of this act by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least five days before ((such)) the closing((, except as provided for special elections in accordance with section 3 of this 1980 act)) of the precinct files.

No person may vote at any primary, special election, or general election in a precinct polling place unless he or she has registered to vote at least thirty days before that primary or election.  If a person, otherwise qualified to vote in the state, county, and precinct in which he or she applies for registration, does not register at least thirty days before any primary, special election, or general election, he or she may register and vote by absentee ballot for that primary or election under section 1 of this act.

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