| Passed by the Senate April 16, 2005 YEAS 39 BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House April 13, 2005 YEAS 96 FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE BILL 5565 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. THOMAS HOEMANN ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved May 3, 2005. CHRISTINE GREGOIRE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | May 3, 2005 - 3:48 p.m. Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/28/2005. Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.
AN ACT Relating to information for out-of-state, overseas, and service voters; and amending RCW 29A.40.150.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 29A.40.150 and 2003 c 111 s 1015 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) 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.