_______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2332
_______________________________________________
AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002
Regular Session
By
Read first time 01/15/2002. Referred to
Committee on State Government.
Directing a statewide
voter registration data base.
AN ACT Relating to a
statewide voter registration data base; amending RCW 29.07.025; adding a new
section to chapter 29.04 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective
date; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec.
1. The legislature
recognizes that national task forces studying election issues have identified
statewide voter registration systems as important tools for protecting the
integrity of elections, and it is likely that federal funds will be made
available for states that employ statewide voter registration systems.
Therefore, the legislature finds a need for the state of Washington to begin
the process of creating such a system.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
2. A new section is added
to chapter 29.04 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The office of the
secretary of state shall work in conjunction with the county auditors of the
state of Washington to initiate the creation of a statewide voter registration
data base. The secretary of state shall identify a group of voter registration
experts whose responsibility will be to work on a design for the voter
registration data base system. The secretary of state shall report back the
findings of this group to the legislature no later than February 1, 2003.
(2) Among the intended
goals the voter registration data base must be designed to accomplish at a
minimum, are the following:
(a) Identify duplicate
voter registrations;
(b) Identify suspected
duplicate voters;
(c) Screen against the
department of corrections data base to aid in the cancellation of voter
registration of felons;
(d) Provide up-to-date
signatures of voters for the purposes of initiative signature checking;
(e) Provide for a
comparison between the voter registration data base and the department of
licensing change of address data base;
(f) Provide online
access for county auditors with the goal of real time duplicate checking and
update capabilities, if sufficient funds are available;
(g) Provide for the
cancellation of voter registration for persons who have moved to other states
and surrendered their Washington state drivers' licenses;
(h) Ensure that each
county shall maintain legal control of the registration records for that
county.
Sec. 3. RCW 29.07.025 and 1994 c
57 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Each state agency
designated under RCW 29.07.420 shall provide voter registration services for
employees and the public within each office of that agency.
(2) The secretary of
state shall design and provide a standard notice informing the public of the
availability of voter registration, which notice shall be posted in each state
agency where such services are available.
(3) The secretary of
state shall design and provide standard voter registration forms for use by
these state agencies.
(4) Each institution
of higher education shall put in place an active prompt on its course
registration web site, or similar web site that students actively and regularly
use, that, if selected, will link the student to the secretary of state's voter
registration web site. The prompt must ask the student if he or she wishes to
register to vote.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
4. Sections 1 and 2 of this
act are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health,
or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions, and take effect May 1, 2002.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 5. Sections 1 and 2 of this
act expire January 1, 2005.
