AN
ACT Relating to periodically maintaining voter registration lists; amending RCW
29.10.090, 29.10.180, and 29.10.040; and adding new sections to chapter 29.10
RCW.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
29.10.090 and 1994 c 57 s 41 are each amended to read as follows:
((The
local registrar of vital statistics in cities of the first class shall submit
monthly to the county auditor a list of the names and addresses, if known, of
all persons over eighteen years of age who have died.))
In
addition to case-by-case maintenance under RCW 29.10.071 and 29.10.075 and the
general program of maintenance of voter registration lists under RCW 29.10.180,
deceased voters will be canceled from voter registration lists as follows:
(1)
Every month, the registrar of vital statistics of the state shall prepare
a separate list of persons who resided in each county, for whom a death
certificate was transmitted to the registrar and was not included on a previous
list, and shall supply ((such monthly lists for each county of the
state, exclusive of cities of the first class,)) the appropriate list
to ((the)) each county auditor ((thereof)).
((The))
A county ((auditors)) auditor shall compare ((such
lists)) this list with the registration records and cancel the
registrations of deceased voters within at least forty-five days before the
next primary or election held in the county after the auditor receives the list.
(2)
In addition, the county auditor may also use newspaper obituary articles as
a source of information in order to cancel a voter's registration. The auditor
must verify the identity of the voter by matching the voter's date of birth or
an address. The auditor shall record the date and source of the obituary in
the cancellation records.
(3)
In addition ((to the above manner of canceling registration records of
deceased voters)), any registered voter may sign a statement, subject to
the penalties of perjury, to the effect that to his or her personal knowledge
or belief another registered voter is deceased. This statement may be filed with
the county auditor. Upon the receipt of such signed statement, the county
auditor shall cancel the registration records concerned and so notify the
secretary of state. Upon receipt of such notice, the secretary of state shall
in turn cancel his or her copy of said registration record.
The secretary of state as chief elections officer shall cause such
form to be designed to carry out the provisions of this section. The county
auditors shall have such forms available for public use. Further, each such
public officer having jurisdiction of an election shall make available a
reasonable supply of such forms for the use of the precinct election officers
at each polling place on the day of an election.
Sec.
2. RCW
29.10.180 and 1994 c 57 s 44 are each amended to read as follows:
In
addition to the case-by-case maintenance required under RCW 29.10.071 and
29.10.075 and the canceling of registrations under RCW 29.10.090, the
county auditor shall establish a general program of voter registration list
maintenance. This program must be a thorough review that is applied
uniformly throughout the county and must be nondiscriminatory in its
application. Any program established must be completed at least once every
two years and not later than ninety days before the date of a primary or
general election for federal office. The county may fulfill its obligations
under this section in one of the following ways:
(1)
The county auditor may enter into one or more contracts with the United States
postal service, or its licensee, which permit the auditor to use postal service
change-of-address information. If the auditor receives change of address
information from the United States postal service that indicates that a voter
has changed his or her residence address within the county, the auditor shall
transfer the registration of that voter and send ((an acknowledgment)) a
confirmation notice informing the voter of the transfer to the new
address. If the auditor receives postal change of address information
indicating that the voter has moved out of the county, the auditor shall send a
confirmation notice to the voter((, send the voter a registration-by-mail
form at the voter's new address,)) and advise the voter of the need to
reregister in the new county. The auditor shall place the voter's registration
on inactive status;
(2)
A direct, nonforwardable, nonprofit or first-class((, return if
undeliverable, address correction requested,)) mailing to every registered
voter within the county bearing the postal endorsement "Return Service
Requested." If address correction information for a voter is
received by the county auditor after this mailing, the auditor shall place that
voter on inactive status and shall send to the voter a confirmation notice;
(3)
Any other method approved by the secretary of state.
Sec.
3. RCW
29.10.040 and 1994 c 57 s 36 are each amended to read as follows:
A
registered voter who changes his or her residence from one county to another
county, shall be required to register anew. ((Before registering anew,))
The voter shall sign an authorization to cancel his or her present
registration. ((The authorization shall be on a form prescribed by the
secretary of state by rule. The)) An authorization ((shall))
to cancel a voter's registration must be forwarded promptly to the
county auditor of the county in which the voter was previously registered. The
county auditor of the county where the previous registration was made shall
cancel the registration of the voter if it appears that the signatures in the
registration record and on the cancellation authorization form were made by the
same person.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. A
new section is added to chapter 29.10 RCW to read as follows:
In
addition to the case-by-case cancellation procedure required in RCW 29.10.040,
the county auditor, in conjunction with the office of the secretary of state,
shall participate in an annual list maintenance program designed to detect
persons registered in more than one county. This program must be applied
uniformly throughout the county and must be nondiscriminatory in its
application. The program must be completed not later than thirty days before
the date of a primary or general election.
The
office of the secretary of state shall cause to be created a list of registered
voters with the same date of birth and similar names who appear on two or more
county lists of registered voters. The office of the secretary of state shall
forward this list to each county auditor so that they may properly cancel the
previous registration of voters who have subsequently registered in a different
county. The county auditor of the county where the previous registration was
made shall cancel the registration of the voter if it appears that the
signatures in the registration and the signature provided to the new county on
the voter's new registration were made by the same person. The office of the
secretary of state shall adopt rules to facilitate this process.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 5. A
new section is added to chapter 29.10 RCW to read as follows:
The
secretary of state shall create a standard electronic file format (state
transfer form) to be used for the transfer of voter registration information
between county auditors and the office of the secretary of state. The format
must be prescribed by rule and contain at least the following information:
Voter name, address, date of birth, date of registration, mailing address,
legislative and congressional district, and digitized signature image. Each
county shall program its voter registration system to convert this data from
the county's storage format into the state transfer format. Every county shall
complete this work by January 1, 2000. Each county may bill reasonable
programming costs incurred by it to the office of the secretary of state by
June 1, 2000.
