EMERGENCY RULES
Date of Adoption: August 25, 2003.
Purpose: Implement chapter 162, Laws of 2003.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 29.04.080.
Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest.
Reasons for this Finding: It is necessary to adopt the rules via the emergency procedure because time does not allow for the normal procedures before the September and November elections.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 2, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making:
New 2,
Amended 0,
Repealed 0;
Pilot Rule Making:
New 0,
Amended 0,
Repealed 0;
or Other Alternative Rule Making:
New 0,
Amended 0,
Repealed 0.
Effective Date of Rule:
Immediately.
August 25, 2003
Steve Excell
Assistant Secretary of State
(2) The mailing and certification provisions of RCW 29.36.270 apply only to properly completed absentee ballot applications.
(3) The certification required by RCW 29.36.270(3) must be submitted to the office of the secretary of state by the fifteenth day before the primary or election. The office of the secretary of state shall design either an electronic or paper form for county auditors to complete this certification. The form will allow for a clear indication that absentee and mail ballots were available at least twenty days before the election and that absentee and mail ballots were mailed at least eighteen days before the primary or election.
(4) When a county auditor becomes knowledgeable that absentee ballots are not going to be available or mailed pursuant to the provisions of RCW 29.36.270(1), the county auditor shall within one business day complete and transmit the certification required in RCW 29.36.270(4).
(5) The report required in RCW 29.36.270(5) shall be submitted twenty days after the election is certified pursuant to RCW 29.62.020(2).
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