Washington Administrative Code

Following the presidential primary, each county auditor shall provide to the secretary of state a completed claim for reimbursement of expenses incurred by the county in conducting the primary. This cost shall be prorated with any other jurisdictions holding special elections in …

Sample ballots shall be available at least fifteen days prior to an election. A printed copy must be made available through the office of the county auditor. A sample ballot may be published on the county auditor's website. Sample paper ballots shall be printed in substantially t…

(1) The ballot must have a clear delineation between the ballot instructions and the first ballot measure or office through the use of white space, illustration, shading, color, symbol, font size, or bold type.(2) The following standards for ballot design and layout are provided …

(1) Each ballot shall specify the county, the date of the election, and whether the election is a primary, special or general.(2) Each ballot must include instructions directing the voter how to mark the ballot, including write-in votes if candidate races appear on the ballot.(3)…

Measures and offices must be listed in the following order, to the extent that they appear on a primary or election ballot:(1) Initiatives to the people;(2) Referendum measures;(3) Referendum bills;(4) Initiatives to the legislature and any alternate proposals;(5) Proposed consti…

All county-wide ballot measures shall be listed immediately following state ballot measures. In the absence of state ballot measures, county-wide ballot measures shall appear first where state ballot measures would appear. For other local ballot measures and offices, each county …

(1) The name of each office must be printed on the ballot.(2) The description "partisan office" must be printed either for each partisan office or as a heading above a group of partisan offices. The description "nonpartisan office" must be printed either for each office or as a h…

(1) For each office or position, the names of all candidates shall be listed together. If the office is on the primary election ballot, no candidates skip the primary and advance directly to the general election.(2)(a) On the primary election ballot, candidates shall be listed in…

In a primary for partisan congressional, state or county office conducted pursuant to chapter 2, Laws of 2005 (Initiative 872):(1) Voters are not required to affiliate with a political party in order to vote in the primary election. For each office, voters may vote for any candid…

If there are two or more places to be filled for a nonpartisan office, the number of candidates equaling the number of positions to be filled who receive the highest number of votes at the primary and an equal number who receive the next highest number of votes shall appear under…

(1) The election of major political party precinct committee officers is established in RCW 29A.52.171 and 29A.80.051.(2) The election of precinct committee officer is an intraparty election; candidates compete against other candidates in the same political party.(a) If only one …

(1) When the race for president and vice president appears on a general election ballot, the candidates for these offices must be paired together.(2) The full name of the political party, rather than an abbreviation, must be provided for each pair of candidates, with a designatio…

Mail-in ballots must be accompanied by the following:(1) A security envelope or sleeve, which may not identify the voter and must have a hole punched in a manner that will reveal whether a ballot is inside;(2) A return envelope, which must be addressed to the county auditor and h…

The secretary of state will work with each county auditor to identify the most cost effective U.S. Postal Service business reply permit type for their county. Once the appropriate business reply mail permit type is determined, each county auditor must:(1) Establish and maintain t…

(1) "Ballot measure" for the purposes of this chapter means any question put forth for voting that involves a yes/no or approve/disapprove response. This includes, but is not limited to, any bond election; tax levy proposition; election to form, dissolve, or annex territory into …

As authorized by RCW 29A.08.170, persons signed up to register to vote as part of the future voter program are eligible to vote in state and local primaries and presidential primaries if they are 17 years of age on the day of the primary and will be 18 years of age on or before t…

The county auditor may issue standard primary ballots to primary-only voters that contain all eligible races in a state, local, or presidential primary if there are no contests prohibited to primary-only voters on the ballot. When a contest prohibited to primary-only voters is he…

(1) Pursuant to RCW 29A.08.720, personally identifiable information from the voter registration record is exempt from public inspection and copying until the voter is 18 years of age, or until 90 days prior to the next presidential primary, primary, or election the voter is eligi…

(1) This chapter implements the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 52 U.S.C. Sec. 20301, the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, 52 U.S.C. Sec. 20301, and the provisions for service and overseas voters in Title 29A RCW.(2) Absent uniformed service voter…

(1) A service or overseas voter may register to vote or update their voter registration record by completing and providing:(a) A voter registration application prescribed by the state of Washington;(b) A federal post card application prescribed by the federal voting assistance pr…

(1) A service or overseas voter may request or return a ballot by:(a) Any manner authorized by WAC 434-250-030;(b) A federal post card application issued by the federal voting assistance program; or(c) A federal write-in absentee ballot issued by the federal voting assistance pro…

(1) Any abbreviation, misspelling, or other minor variation in the form of the name of a candidate or a political party shall be disregarded in determining the validity of a federal write-in absentee ballot or a special absentee ballot if the intention of the voter can be ascerta…

If a seal is missing or broken without authority, all subsequent steps taken must be documented and included in a report to the canvassing board.[Statutory Authority: RCW 29A.04.611. WSR 06-14-050, § 434-250-025, filed 6/28/06, effective 7/29/06.]

(1) As authorized by RCW 29A.40.050, requests for a special absentee ballot must be made in writing and each county auditor must provide the applications. The form must include:(a) A space for the voter to print the voter's name and address where registered to vote;(b) A postal o…

(1) At least eighteen days before every special, primary, or general election, authorized personnel shall review all protected records voter files and forward the appropriate ballot for each protected records voter via the substitute mailing address.(2) The ballot, ballot securit…

Pursuant to RCW 29A.40.070, the county auditor shall certify to the secretary of state the date ballots were mailed:(1) On the day of mailing or forty-five or thirty days before election day, whichever deadline is applicable, certify that ballots were sent to service and overseas…

(1) If the voter registration record is flagged as requiring verification of identity, a notice must be sent at the time of the election explaining that a photocopy of identification must be provided in order for the ballot to be counted, and listing what forms of identification …

(1) The county auditor must utilize postal service endorsements that allow ballots to be forwarded, allow the county auditor to receive the updated address information for forwarded ballots, and allow the return of ballots not capable of being forwarded. A voter may only vote a b…

The county auditor shall issue a replacement ballot, as authorized by RCW 29A.40.070, if the request is received prior to 8:00 p.m. on election day. Requests may be made in person, in writing, by telephone, or electronically, by the voter, a family member, or a registered domesti…

(1) Before a direct recording electronic voting device may be used by a voter, an election officer must verify:(a) The paper printer or paper canister is secured so that the paper record may not be removed from the device by anyone other than an election officer;(b) Only a blank …

If a location only receives ballots and does not issue ballots, it is considered a ballot deposit site. Ballot deposit sites may be staffed or unstaffed.(1) A staffed ballot deposit site must be staffed by at least two people. Deposit site staff may be employees of the county aud…

(1) If a location offers replacement ballots, reissued ballots, provisional ballots, or voting on a direct recording electronic device, it is considered a voting center.(2) At least one voting center must be open during business hours during the voting period, which begins eighte…

(1) Ballot processing definitions:(a) "Initial processing" means all steps taken to prepare ballots for tabulation.(b) "Final processing" means the reading of ballots by an optical scan voting system for the purpose of producing returns of votes cast, but does not include tabulat…

(1) A ballot shall be counted if:(a) The voter has not already cast a ballot that has been accepted in the election;(b) The voter signed the ballot declaration with a valid signature, as determined by WAC 434-261-051 through 434-261-053, or the voter has provided identification a…

Each county auditor shall maintain an audit trail with respect to the processing of ballots, which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:(1) A record of the date the ballot was mailed or issued, and the date the ballot was received;(2) The number of ballots issued a…

All election officials charged with any duties or responsibilities with respect to ballots shall ensure that those duties are performed in an expeditious manner, in order to maximize the opportunity for voters to receive, vote, and return the ballots in time to be counted.[Statut…

The United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual requires each county auditor to include on the ballot, ballot instructions, mailing instructions, or return envelope the specific amount of first-class postage necessary to return the ballot by mail. This is not required:(1) F…

A county auditor must provide at least two locations to deposit ballots beginning eighteen days prior to election day and ending at 8:00 p.m. on election day. These locations may be either a ballot deposit site, as defined in WAC 434-250-100, or a voting center, as defined in WAC…

Pursuant to RCW 29A.40.180, the county auditor and any educational institution within the county that are statutorily required to host a hub must enter a contract to operate a student engagement hub.(1) For all institutions operating student engagement hubs, the contract must inc…

(1) Each year that funding has been made available by the legislature for support of student engagement hubs, a county that is required to operate a student engagement hub under RCW 29A.40.180, may request reimbursement from the secretary of state. Reimbursement under this sectio…

(1) In-person inspection of unredacted ballot return envelopes, ballot declarations, and signature correction forms is authorized, so long as photocopying, photographs, and other types of image reproduction of voter signatures, phone numbers, and email addresses are prohibited.(2…

It is the intent of this chapter to provide procedures to be followed in the conduct of election reviews and procedures to be followed for the certification and training of election administrators, assistant election administrators, and county canvassing board members as required…

As used in this chapter:(1) "Election review" means the process of examining all or a part of a county's election policies and procedures and includes the review of any documentation of those procedures;(2) "Election review staff" means the person or persons employed by the secre…

Not later than May 1, any county auditor may request that the secretary of state designate his or her county for an election review. The secretary of state shall, whenever practical, honor that request. [Statutory Authority: RCW 29A.04.611, 2006 c 344. WSR 07-09-035, § 434-260-03…

Not later than thirty days prior to the start of an election review the secretary of state shall notify, in writing, the counties selected for an election review. Whenever possible, election reviews shall be conducted on dates that are mutually agreeable to the secretary and to t…

Notice of a special review shall be provided to the county auditor by telephone and email not later than twenty-four hours after the determination has been made to conduct the special review.[Statutory Authority: RCW 29A.04.611, 29A.04.620, and 29A.04.630. WSR 11-24-064, § 434-26…

At least five days prior to an election review, or as soon as possible prior to a special review, the review staff shall notify the county auditor of the number of persons conducting the review, any policies and procedures of special interest, and of any needs incidental to their…