BILL REQ. #:  S-5126.1 

Read first time 02/06/08.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The citizens of Washington believe in the right to vote and that in a democracy there is nothing more fundamental than the right to vote; and
     WHEREAS, In the interest of bolstering the electoral process, the vote-by-mail process should be as convenient as possible; and
     WHEREAS, Voting by mail increasingly requires more than one stamp when returning a ballot, unbeknownst to voters, resulting in ballots being returned as a result of insufficient postage, which is contrary to the fundamental right to vote; and
     WHEREAS, Providing postage prepaid return envelopes with vote-by-mail ballots will ensure that the fundamental right to vote is protected, and will encourage voter participation; and
     WHEREAS, Requiring voters to provide their own postage return for vote-by-mail ballots may be considered a poll-tax; and
     WHEREAS, Postage on mailings that are transported through the United States Postal Service falls within the federal purview, and the United States Postal Service is equipped with the means to provide prepaid postage return envelopes to the Washington Secretary of State for distribution with vote-by-mail ballots;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the federal government be required to share in the costs of postage associated with the return of vote-by-mail ballots, for those costs not currently covered by the federal government, such that the return of vote-by-mail ballots shall be at no cost to the voter.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.