BILL REQ. #:  H-0397.1 

Read first time 02/14/11.   Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs.

     AN ACT Relating to presidential electors; amending RCW 29A.56.310, 29A.56.320, and 29A.56.340; repealing RCW 29A.56.300; and repealing 2009 c 264 s 1 (uncodified).

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

Sec. 1   RCW 29A.56.310 and 2003 c 111 s 1424 are each amended to read as follows:
     On the Tuesday after the first Monday of November in the year in which a president of the United States is to be elected, there shall be elected ((as many electors of president and vice president of the United States as there are senators and representatives in Congress allotted to this state)) one presidential elector from each congressional district and two electors from the state at-large. Each elector may have an alternate to stand in for the elector in case of death, refusal to act, or neglect to attend the electors meeting.

Sec. 2   RCW 29A.56.320 and 2009 c 264 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     In the year in which a presidential election is held, each major political party and each minor political party or independent candidate convention held under chapter 29A.20 RCW that nominates candidates for president and vice president of the United States shall nominate presidential electors and alternates for this state. The party or convention shall file with the secretary of state a certificate signed by the presiding officer of the convention at which the presidential electors were chosen, listing the names and addresses of the presidential electors. Each presidential elector and alternate shall execute and file with the secretary of state a pledge that, as an elector, he or she will vote for the candidates nominated by that party. The names of presidential electors shall not appear on the ballots. The votes cast for candidates for president and vice president of each political party shall be counted for the candidates for presidential electors of that political party((; however, if the interstate compact entitled the "agreement among the states to elect the president by national popular vote," as set forth in RCW 29A.56.300, governs the appointment of the presidential electors for a presidential election as provided in clause 9 of Article III of that compact, then the final appointment of presidential electors for that presidential election shall be in accordance with that compact)). The congressional district presidential elector shall be the elector from the political party whose presidential and vice presidential candidates received the most number of votes in the congressional district. The at-large presidential electors shall be electors from the political party for the presidential and vice presidential candidates who received the most number of votes in the state.

Sec. 3   RCW 29A.56.340 and 2003 c 111 s 1427 are each amended to read as follows:
     The electors of the president and vice president shall convene at the seat of government on the day fixed by federal statute, at the hour of twelve o'clock noon of that day. If there is any vacancy in the office of an elector ((occasioned by death, refusal to act, neglect to attend, or otherwise, the electors present shall immediately proceed to fill it by voice vote, and plurality of votes)), the elector's designated alternate shall be recognized as the elector. When all of the electors have appeared and the vacancies have been filled they shall constitute the college of electors of the state of Washington, and shall proceed to perform the duties required of them by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Any elector who votes for a person or persons not nominated by the party of which he or she is an elector is subject to a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:
     (1) RCW 29A.56.300 (States' agreement -- Presidential election--National popular vote) and 2009 c 264 s 2; and
     (2) 2009 c 264 s 1 (uncodified).