S-1360.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5864

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Senator T. Sheldon

Read first time 02/06/2001.  Referred to Committee on State & Local Government.

Requiring parties to pay costs of partisan primaries.

    AN ACT Relating to payment of costs of primaries; adding new sections to chapter 29.18 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds and declares that taxpayers should not bear the cost of a private association's selection of its own nominees for public or private office.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 29.18 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) In no circumstance may state, county, city, or town public funds be spent on a primary if a public declaration of party affiliation is required before a voter may participate in the primary election.

    (2) Each political party participating in the primary shall reimburse the state and counties for the political party's proportional share of the cost of the primary.

    (3) A political party must post a bond of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars for a September primary held before a gubernatorial election, five hundred thousand dollars for a September primary in an even-numbered year where the governor is not elected, one hundred thousand dollars for any other statewide primary, or twenty-five thousand dollars for any other primary, before the names of that political party's candidates may be printed on the primary ballot.

    When the actual cost of the primary is tabulated, if the political party's proportional share of the cost is less than the bond the costs will be deducted from the bond and the rest refunded to the party.  If the political party's proportional costs are more than the bond the political party must reimburse the state, county, or city for the costs not covered by the bond.  A political party may not participate in future primaries until it has paid in full its proportional share of the costs of the primary.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 29.18 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) In this chapter a "public declaration of party affiliation" includes, but is not limited to, requiring voters to register their party affiliation, requiring a public declaration of affiliation so a voter may participate in the primary, requiring a voter to sign a pledge to support the political parties before a voter may participate in a primary, registering a voter with a party when the voter selects a political party's ballot at a primary, or recording a voter's choice of party ballot at the primary.

    (2) The costs of primaries include, but are not limited to, the cost of printing ballots, distributing ballots, printing voters' pamphlets, canvassing, mandatory recounts, candidate filings, certification of primary candidates, publishing the notice of the primary, compensating election officials, vote tallying system tests, transporting voting equipment to polling places, use and operation of polling places, voting supplies, and counting ballots.

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