WashingtonSB 56692025-2026 Regular SessionSenate

Concerning irrigation district elections.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

6 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 4 mixed.

Irrigation offices can serve more precincts

Beginning July 27, 2025, district boards can use their main business office as a polling place, even outside district boundaries. One location can serve several precincts. Election officials can serve across those precincts and be voters from any precinct served.

More election information for irrigation voters

Beginning July 27, 2025, districts qualifying under the law and using their own designated treasurer must provide yearly election notices. Notices can use mail, electronic messages, or website posts. They must list directors and term endings, candidate filing steps and deadlines, and voting instructions, including absentee requests when applicable. Districts use assessment, toll, charge, or other district records to identify voters; public records can also help. Districts delivering water through an entity that pays charges and distributes the water need only notify that entity. Missing the notice does not remove voting eligibility, and newly qualified voters remain eligible for later elections. Every district must keep director names, election rules and results, and contact details online, independently or through the Washington State Water Resources Association.

Clearer rules for irrigation director candidates

Beginning July 27, 2025, boards must check whether the leading undeclared write-in candidate qualifies for the director position. If not, the qualified person with the next-highest vote total wins. Candidates must meet applicable age, citizenship, and residency rules, or qualify as an allowed agent of a land-owning entity. Uniform ballots list candidates filing by declaration or petition by the first Monday in October, unless the district sets another deadline. Later candidates can receive write-in votes. When only one qualified candidate files for an office, the board can declare that person elected without an election; the secretary must issue an election certificate.

Land ownership shapes irrigation voting power

Beginning July 27, 2025, individual voters must be Washington residents, U.S. citizens, and at least 18. They must hold title or evidence of title to district land that is assessed or assessable under federal and state law. Land-owning entities can vote through agents with written authority filed with election officers. Agents vote in the entity's principal-office precinct or the nearest precinct. In districts of at least 200,000 acres, ownership gets one vote for the first 10 acres or fraction, plus one vote for all acreage above 10. Smaller districts allocate two votes for each five acres or fraction, or each five shares for share-based ownership. No single ownership can hold more than 49 percent of a smaller district's votes. If ownerships under five acres hold more than 50 percent of district acreage, each such ownership gets two votes. Co-owners sharing two votes decide how to cast them. Community-property spouses can both vote in large districts if separately qualified; in smaller districts, they can divide votes by agreement or cast one each.

More mail voting for irrigation landowners

Beginning July 27, 2025, qualified irrigation district voters can vote absentee without explaining why they cannot attend the polls. District boards can also choose mail-only elections by resolution. Voters missed by ballot delivery can show qualification documents at the main office by close of business the day before election day. Ballots require a sealed inner security envelope inside an outer envelope. Voters must sign a statement under penalty of perjury giving their name, age, citizenship, residence, and qualifying land ownership. Districts can print this statement on the outer envelope. Office-delivered ballots must arrive before polls close; mailed ballots must be postmarked by election day and arrive within seven days afterward.

Stronger safeguards and penalties for irrigation elections

Beginning July 27, 2025, districts qualifying under the law and using their own designated treasurer must follow ballot-security and review procedures. Two non-candidates must be present whenever ballots are controlled, and ballot boxes need tamper-evident seals and logs. Vote counting starts only after polls close, and ballot totals must be checked for agreement. Covered districts must follow observation rules and written procedures for challenges and correcting ballot problems. Challenge outcomes must be posted within seven days after resolution, and verification of the final election review must be posted afterward. Specified election records must be kept for six months; officials and staff doing official election work cannot be candidates on that ballot. Willful violations of specified ballot rules, unauthorized ballot removal, or knowingly deceiving voters or recording votes against their choices are gross misdemeanors. Punishment follows state criminal law; this provision does not give a specific penalty amount.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Nikki Torres
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

Judy Warnick
Republican • Senate
Mark Schoesler
Republican • Senate
Perry Dozier
Republican • Senate
Shelly Short
Republican • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 134 • No: 11

House vote • 4/15/2025

3rd Reading & Final Passage

Yes: 85 • No: 11 • Other: 2

Senate vote • 3/3/2025