BySenate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections (originally sponsored by Senators Kauffman, Valdez, Hasegawa, and Nobles)

AN ACT Relating to prohibitions on electioneering within buildings containing the division of elections for county auditor offices, including any adjacent county owned and operated parking lots routinely used for parking at the buildings; amending RCW 29A.84.510; and creating a new section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that every state, including Washington, has some form of restriction on political activities near polling places while voting is taking place. These electioneering prohibitions near voting centers, ballot drop boxes, and election offices create reasonable "buffer zones" and do not significantly impinge on First Amendment rights. These prohibitions are important tools to prevent intimidation and election fraud.

The legislature further finds that parking lots, which serve as corridors for voters seeking to register to vote and cast a ballot, are an extension of election offices and should not feature campaign signs or placards encouraging voters to cast votes for or against a candidate or ballot measure during the election period. This narrowly tailored prohibition protects both First Amendment rights of political campaigns and the right of voters to be free from any form of intimidation or influence while they attempt to cast a ballot.

(1) During the voting period that begins eighteen days before and ends the day of a special election, general election, or primary, no person may:

(a) Within a voting center or student engagement hub; or within the building that contains the division of elections for a county auditor's office, including any county owned and operated parking lot adjacent to the building and routinely used for parking at that building and any routes of access between the building and the parking lot; or in any public street or room in any public manner within 100 feet measured radially from the entrance to a voting center or student engagement hub or 25 feet measured radially from a ballot drop box as described in RCW 29A.40.170:

(i) Suggest or persuade or attempt to suggest or persuade any voter to vote for or against any candidate or ballot measure;

(iv) Engage in any practice which interferes with the freedom of voters to exercise their franchise or disrupts the administration of the voting center;

(b) Engage in any activities restricted under (a) of this subsection through electronic amplification located more than 100 feet from an entrance to a voting center or student engagement hub or 25 feet from an entrance to a ballot drop box if the person is capable of being understood within 100 feet of the voting center or student engagement hub or 25 feet of the ballot drop box;

(c) Obstruct the doors or entries to a building in which a voting center or ballot drop location is located or prevent free access to and from any voting center or ballot drop location.

(2) The auditor shall post a sign at the point or points specified at each voting center as required by RCW 29A.40.160 during the voting period providing notice of the prohibition in subsection (1)(a) of this section.

(3) Any sheriff, deputy sheriff, or municipal law enforcement officer shall stop the prohibited activity, and may arrest any person engaging in the prohibited activity.

(4) Any violation of this section is a gross misdemeanor, punishable to the same extent as a gross misdemeanor that is punishable under RCW 9A.20.021, and the person convicted may be ordered to pay the costs of prosecution.

(5) Nothing in this section may be construed to limit or otherwise restrict the access of an authorized political party observer to a voting center, student engagement hub, or ballot drop box for the purpose of observing the election process.