BILL REQ. #:  S-3857.2 

Read first time 01/13/2006.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to elections; and amending RCW 29A.04.008, 29A.04.530, 29A.04.611, 29A.40.050, 29A.40.061, 29A.40.080, 29A.40.110, 29A.40.150, 29A.44.020, 29A.44.090, 29A.44.270, 29A.48.040, and 29A.60.125.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 29A.04.008 and 2005 c 243 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in this title:
     (1) "Ballot" means, as the context implies, either:
     (a) The issues and offices to be voted upon in a jurisdiction or portion of a jurisdiction at a particular primary, general election, or special election;
     (b) A facsimile of the contents of a particular ballot whether printed on a paper ballot or ballot card or as part of a voting machine or voting device;
     (c) A physical or electronic record of the choices of an individual voter in a particular primary, general election, or special election; or
     (d) The physical document on which the voter's choices are to be recorded;
     (2) "Paper ballot" means a piece of paper on which the ballot for a particular election or primary has been printed, on which a voter may record his or her choices for any candidate or for or against any measure, and that is to be tabulated manually;
     (3) "Ballot card" means any type of card or piece of paper of any size on which a voter may record his or her choices for any candidate and for or against any measure and that is to be tabulated on a vote tallying system;
     (4) "Sample ballot" means a printed facsimile of all the issues and offices on the ballot in a jurisdiction and is intended to give voters notice of the issues, offices, and candidates that are to be voted on at a particular primary, general election, or special election;
     (5) "Provisional ballot" means a ballot issued to a voter requesting a replacement absentee or mail ballot or a ballot issued at the polling place on election day by the precinct election board to a voter who would otherwise be denied an opportunity to vote a regular ballot, for any reason authorized by the Help America Vote Act, including but not limited to the following:
     (a) The voter's name does not appear in the poll book but the voter claims to be registered in the precinct in which the person wishes to vote;
     (b) There is an indication in the poll book that the voter has requested an absentee ballot, but the voter wishes to vote at the polling place;
     (c) There is a question on the part of the voter concerning the issues or candidates on which the voter is qualified to vote;
     (d) Any other reason allowed by law;
     (6) "Party ballot" means a primary election ballot specific to a particular major political party that lists all partisan offices to be voted on at that primary, and the candidates for those offices who affiliate with that same major political party;
     (7) "Nonpartisan ballot" means a primary election ballot that lists all nonpartisan races and ballot measures to be voted on at that primary.

Sec. 2   RCW 29A.04.530 and 2005 c 243 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The secretary of state shall:
     (1) Establish and operate, or provide by contract, training and certification programs for state and county elections administration officials and personnel, including training on the various types of election law violations and discrimination, and training programs for political party observers which conform to the rules for such programs established under RCW 29A.04.630;
     (2) Establish uniform guidelines, in consultation with state and local law enforcement or certified document examiners, for signature verification processes. All election personnel assigned to verify signatures must receive training and be certified by the secretary of state on the uniform guidelines;
     (3) Administer tests for state and county officials and personnel who have received such training and issue certificates to those who have successfully completed the training and passed such tests;
     (4) Maintain a record of those individuals who have received such training and certificates; and
     (5) Provide the staffing and support services required by the board created under RCW 29A.04.510.

Sec. 3   RCW 29A.04.611 and 2004 c 271 s 151 are each amended to read as follows:
     The secretary of state as chief election officer shall make reasonable rules in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW not inconsistent with the federal and state election laws to effectuate any provision of this title and to facilitate the execution of its provisions in an orderly, timely, and uniform manner relating to any federal, state, county, city, town, and district elections. To that end the secretary shall assist local election officers by devising uniform forms and procedures.
     In addition to the rule-making authority granted otherwise by this section, the secretary of state shall make rules governing the following provisions:
     (1) The maintenance of voter registration records;
     (2) The preparation, maintenance, distribution, review, and filing of precinct maps;
     (3) Standards for the design, layout, and production of ballots;
     (4) The examination and testing of voting systems for certification;
     (5) The source and scope of independent evaluations of voting systems that may be relied upon in certifying voting systems for use in this state;
     (6) Standards and procedures for the acceptance testing of voting systems by counties;
     (7) Standards and procedures for testing the programming of vote tallying software for specific primaries and elections;
     (8) Standards and procedures for the preparation and use of each type of certified voting system including procedures for the operation of counting centers where vote tallying systems are used;
     (9) Standards and procedures to ensure the accurate tabulation and canvassing of ballots;
     (10) Consistency among the counties of the state in the preparation of ballots, the operation of vote tallying systems, and the canvassing of primaries and elections;
     (11) Procedures to ensure the secrecy of a voter's ballot when a small number of ballots are counted at the polls or at a counting center;
     (12) The use of substitute devices or means of voting when a voting device at the polling place is found to be defective, the counting of votes cast on the defective device, the counting of votes cast on the substitute device, and the documentation that must be submitted to the county auditor regarding such circumstances;
     (13) Procedures for the transportation of sealed containers of voted ballots or sealed voting devices;
     (14) The acceptance and filing of documents via electronic facsimile;
     (15) Voter registration applications and records;
     (16) The use of voter registration information in the conduct of elections;
     (17) The coordination, delivery, and processing of voter registration records accepted by driver licensing agents or the department of licensing;
     (18) The coordination, delivery, and processing of voter registration records accepted by agencies designated by the governor to provide voter registration services;
     (19) Procedures to receive and distribute voter registration applications by mail;
     (20) Procedures for a voter to change his or her voter registration address within a county by telephone;
     (21) Procedures for a voter to change the name under which he or she is registered to vote;
     (22) Procedures for canceling dual voter registration records and for maintaining records of persons whose voter registrations have been canceled;
     (23) Procedures for the electronic transfer of voter registration records between county auditors and the office of the secretary of state;
     (24) Procedures and forms for declarations of candidacy;
     (25) Procedures and requirements for the acceptance and filing of declarations of candidacy by electronic means;
     (26) Procedures for the circumstance in which two or more candidates have a name similar in sound or spelling so as to cause confusion for the voter;
     (27) Filing for office;
     (28) The order of positions and offices on a ballot;
     (29) Sample ballots;
     (30) Independent evaluations of voting systems;
     (31) The testing, approval, and certification of voting systems;
     (32) The testing of vote tallying software programming;
     (33) Standards and procedures to prevent fraud and to facilitate the accurate processing and canvassing of absentee ballots and mail ballots;
     (34) Standards and procedures to guarantee the secrecy of absentee ballots and mail ballots;
     (35) Uniformity among the counties of the state in the conduct of absentee voting and mail ballot elections;
     (36) Standards and procedures to accommodate out-of-state voters, overseas voters, and service voters. Uniformed service voters must be able to submit a federal write-in absentee ballot and override that ballot at a later time by submitting a state absentee ballot;
     (37) The tabulation of paper ballots before the close of the polls;
     (38) The accessibility of polling places and registration facilities that are accessible to elderly and disabled persons;
     (39) The aggregation of precinct results if reporting the results of a single precinct could jeopardize the secrecy of a person's ballot;
     (40) Procedures for conducting a statutory recount;
     (41) Procedures for filling vacancies in congressional offices if the general statutory time requirements for availability of absentee ballots, certification, canvassing, and related procedures cannot be met;
     (42) Procedures for the statistical sampling of signatures for purposes of verifying and canvassing signatures on initiative, referendum, and recall election petitions;
     (43) Standards and deadlines for submitting material to the office of the secretary of state for the voters' pamphlet;
     (44) Deadlines for the filing of ballot titles for referendum bills and constitutional amendments if none have been provided by the legislature;
     (45) Procedures for the publication of a state voters' pamphlet;
     (46) Procedures for conducting special elections regarding nuclear waste sites if the general statutory time requirements for availability of absentee ballots, certification, canvassing, and related procedures cannot be met;
     (47) Procedures for conducting partisan primary elections;
     (48) Standards and procedures for the proper conduct of voting during the early voting period to provide accessability for the blind or visually impaired;
     (49) Standards for voting technology and systems used by the state or any political subdivision to be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence, as other voters;
     (50) All data formats for transferring voter registration data on electronic or machine-readable media for the purpose of administering the statewide voter registration list required by the Help America Vote Act (P.L. 107-252);
     (51) Defining the interaction of electronic voter registration election management systems employed by each county auditor to maintain a local copy of each county's portion of the official state list of registered voters;
     (52) Provisions and procedures to implement the state-based administrative complaint procedure as required by the Help America Vote Act (P.L. 107-252); and
     (53) Facilitating the payment of local government grants to local government election officers or vendors.

Sec. 4   RCW 29A.40.050 and 2003 c 111 s 1005 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) As provided in this section, county auditors shall provide special absentee ballots to be used for state primary or state general elections. An auditor shall provide a special absentee ballot only to a registered voter who completes an application stating that she or he will be unable to vote and return a regular absentee ballot by normal mail delivery within the period provided for regular absentee ballots.
     The application for a special absentee ballot may not be filed and may not be accepted by the auditor's office earlier than ninety days before the applicable state primary or general election. The special absentee ballot will list the offices and measures, if known, scheduled to appear on the state primary or general election ballot. The voter may use the special absentee ballot to write in the name of any eligible candidate for each office and vote on any measure.
     (2) With any special absentee ballot issued under this section, the county auditor shall include a listing of any candidates who have ((filed)) met the filing requirements of chapter 29A.24 RCW before the time of the application for offices that will appear on the ballot at that primary or election and a list of any issues that have been referred to the ballot before the time of the application.
     (3) Write-in votes on special absentee ballots must be counted in the same manner provided by law for the counting of other write-in votes. The county auditor shall process and canvass the special absentee ballots provided under this section in the same manner as other absentee ballots under this chapter and chapter 29A.60 RCW.
     (4) A voter who requests a special absentee ballot under this section may also request an absentee ballot under RCW 29A.40.020(4). If the regular absentee ballot is properly voted and returned, the special absentee ballot is void, and the county auditor shall reject it in whole when special absentee ballots are canvassed.

Sec. 5   RCW 29A.40.061 and 2004 c 271 s 134 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The county auditor shall issue an absentee ballot for the primary or election for which it was requested, or for the next occurring primary or election when ongoing absentee status has been requested if the information contained in a request for an absentee ballot or ongoing absentee status received by the county auditor is complete and correct and the applicant is qualified to vote under federal or state law. ((Otherwise,)) If the information is not complete, the request cannot be accepted even if enough time remains for the applicant to supply the needed information in time to vote in the next election. The county auditor shall notify the applicant of the reason or reasons why the request cannot be accepted. Whenever two or more candidates have filed for the position of precinct committee officer for the same party in the same precinct, the contest for that position must be presented to absentee voters from that precinct by either including the contest on the regular absentee ballot or a separate absentee ballot. The ballot must provide space designated for writing in the name of additional candidates.
     (2) A registered voter may obtain a replacement ballot if the absentee ballot is destroyed, spoiled, lost, or not received by the voter. For the purposes of this subsection, replacement ballot means provisional ballot. The voter may obtain the replacement ballot by telephone request, by mail, electronically, or in person. The county auditor shall keep a record of each replacement ballot provided under this subsection.
     (3) A copy of the state voters' pamphlet must be sent to registered voters temporarily outside the state, out-of-state voters, overseas voters, and service voters along with the absentee ballot if such a pamphlet has been prepared for the primary or election and is available to the county auditor at the time of mailing. The county auditor shall mail all absentee ballots and related material to voters outside the territorial limits of the United States and the District of Columbia under 39 U.S.C. 3406.

Sec. 6   RCW 29A.40.080 and 2003 c 111 s 1008 are each amended to read as follows:
     The delivery of an absentee ballot for any primary or election shall be subject to the following qualifications:
     (1) Only the registered voter personally, or a member of the registered voter's immediate family may pick up an absentee ballot for the voter at the office of the issuing officer unless the voter is a resident of a health care facility, as defined by RCW 70.37.020(3), on election day and applies by messenger for an absentee ballot. In this latter case, the messenger may pick up the voter's absentee ballot but may not return the voted ballot to the county auditor's office.
     (2) Except as noted in subsection (1) of this section, the issuing officer shall mail or deliver the absentee ballot directly to each applicant.

Sec. 7   RCW 29A.40.110 and 2005 c 243 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The opening and subsequent processing of return envelopes for any primary or election may begin upon receipt. The tabulation of absentee ballots must not commence until after 8:00 p.m. on the day of the primary or election. If a voter returns voting responses by mail on a form other than the ballot sent by the county auditor, his or her voting responses may not be tabulated.
     (2) All received absentee return envelopes must be placed in secure locations from the time of delivery to the county auditor until their subsequent opening. After opening the return envelopes, the county canvassing board shall place all of the ballots in secure storage until after 8:00 p.m. of the day of the primary or election. Absentee ballots that are to be tabulated on an electronic vote tallying system may be taken from the inner envelopes and all the normal procedural steps may be performed to prepare these ballots for tabulation.
     (3) Before opening a returned absentee ballot, the canvassing board, or its designated representatives, shall examine the postmark, statement, and signature on the return envelope that contains the security envelope and absentee ballot. They shall verify that the voter's signature on the return envelope is the same as the signature of that voter in the registration files of the county. For registered voters casting absentee ballots, the date on the return envelope to which the voter has attested determines the validity, as to the time of voting for that absentee ballot if the postmark is missing or is illegible. For out-of-state voters, overseas voters, and service voters stationed in the United States, the date on the return envelope to which the voter has attested determines the validity as to the time of voting for that absentee ballot. For any absentee ballot, a variation between the signature of the voter on the return envelope and the signature of that voter in the registration files due to the substitution of initials or the use of common nicknames is permitted so long as the surname and handwriting are clearly the same.

Sec. 8   RCW 29A.40.150 and 2005 c 245 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The secretary of state shall produce and furnish envelopes and instructions for out-of-state voters, overseas voters, and service voters to the county auditors. The information on the envelopes or instructions must explain that:
     (1) For overseas and service voters, return postage is free if the ballot is mailed through the United States postal service, United States armed forces postal service, or the postal service of a United States foreign embassy;
     (2) The date of the signature is considered the date of mailing;
     (3) The envelope must be signed by election day;
     (4) The signed declaration on the envelope is the equivalent of voter registration;
     (5) A voter may fax a voted ballot and the accompanying envelope if the voter agrees to waive secrecy. The ballot will be counted if the original documents are received before certification of the election; and
     (6) A voter may obtain a ballot via electronic mail, which the voter may print out, vote, and return by mail. In order to facilitate the electronic acquisition of ballots by out-of-state, overseas, and service voters, the ballot instructions shall include the web site of the office of the secretary of state.

Sec. 9   RCW 29A.44.020 and 2003 c 111 s 1102 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) At any election, general or special, or at any primary, any political party or committee may designate a person other than a precinct election officer, for each polling place to check a list of registered voters of the precinct to determine who has and who has not voted. The lists must be furnished by the party or committee concerned.
     (2) Activities under this section do not constitute get-out-the-vote campaigns.

Sec. 10   RCW 29A.44.090 and 2003 c 111 s 1109 are each amended to read as follows:
     A registered voter shall not be allowed to vote in the precinct in which he or she is registered at any election or primary for which that voter has cast an absentee ballot. A registered voter who has requested an absentee ballot for a primary or special or general election but chooses to vote at the voter's precinct polling place in that primary or election shall cast a provisional ballot. The canvassing board shall not count the provisional ballot until all absentee ballots have been counted or if it finds that the voter has also voted by absentee ballot in that primary or election.

Sec. 11   RCW 29A.44.270 and 2003 c 111 s 1126 are each amended to read as follows:
     At each precinct immediately after the last qualified voter has cast his or her vote, the precinct election officers shall render unusable and secure in a container all unused ballots, whether wrapped or unwrapped, for that precinct and return them to the county auditor.

Sec. 12   RCW 29A.48.040 and 2003 c 111 s 1204 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) If a county auditor conducts an election by mail, the county auditor shall designate one or more places for the deposit of ballots not returned by mail. The places designated under this section shall be open on the date of the election for a period of thirteen hours, beginning at 7:00 a.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m.
     (2) A registered voter may obtain a replacement ballot as provided in this subsection. For the purposes of this subsection, replacement ballot means provisional ballot. A voter may request a replacement mail ballot in person, by mail, by telephone, or by other electronic transmission for himself or herself and for any member of his or her immediate family. The request must be received by the auditor before 8:00 p.m. on election day. The county auditor shall keep a record of each replacement ballot issued, including the date of the request. Replacement mail ballots may be counted in the final tabulation of ballots only if the original ballot is not received by the county auditor and the replacement ballot meets all requirements for tabulation necessary for the tabulation of regular mail ballots.

Sec. 13   RCW 29A.60.125 and 2005 c 243 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:
     If inspection of the ballot reveals a physically damaged ballot or a ballot ((that may be otherwise unreadable or uncountable by the tabulating system)) where the voter has corrected an error in voting according to instructions issued by election officials, the county auditor may refer the ballot to the county canvassing board or duplicate the ballot if so authorized by the county canvassing board. The voter's original ballot may not be altered. A damaged ballot or a ballot where the voter has corrected an error in voting may be duplicated only if the intent of the voter's marks on the ballot is clear and the electronic voting equipment might not otherwise properly tally the ballot to reflect the intent of the voter. Ballots must be duplicated by teams of two or more people working together. When duplicating ballots, the county auditor shall take the following steps to create and maintain an audit trail of the action taken:
     (1) Each original ballot and duplicate ballot must be assigned the same unique control number, with the number being marked upon the face of each ballot, to ensure that each duplicate ballot may be tied back to the original ballot;
     (2) A log must be kept of the ballots duplicated, which must at least include:
     (a) The control number of each original ballot and the corresponding duplicate ballot;
     (b) The initials of at least two people who participated in the duplication of each ballot; and
     (c) The total number of ballots duplicated.
     Original and duplicate ballots must be sealed in secure storage at all times, except during duplication, inspection by the canvassing board, or tabulation.