Washington Administrative Code

The secretary of state shall develop an election review checklist, which shall be the basis for any election review and which shall also serve, in whole or in part, as the basis for any special review. The checklist for a regular review shall be provided to the county auditor at …

The review staff shall verbally relay any recommendations found during observation of the county's procedures by certification of the election. As soon as practical, but in any event not later than ninety days following the certification of the election, the review staff shall is…

As soon as practicable, but in any event not later than thirty days after the issuance of the preliminary report of findings and recommendations, the review staff shall issue a draft of the election review report to the county auditor and the designated members of the county canv…

The county auditor and/or county canvassing board must respond, in writing, to the draft election review report, listing the steps that will be taken to correct any problems listed in the report. Such response shall be submitted to the review staff not later than fifteen business…

As soon as practicable, but in any event not later than ten business days after the receipt of the county's response, the review staff shall issue a final election review report. The report shall be made to the county canvassing board, and shall include, but not be limited to, th…

Within one year following the issuance of the final review report, the secretary of state shall verify that the county has taken the steps listed in the response to correct the problems noted in the report. The secretary of state shall send a letter to the county canvassing board…

After conducting a special review, the review staff shall make any recommendations to the county auditor and the county canvassing board that they deem necessary to minimize the possibilities of any administrative errors being made either prior to or during the conduct of a manda…

Within thirty days of an appeal being filed, the election administration and certification board shall meet to consider the appeal. The board may request that the county auditor, the review staff, or any other persons they deem appropriate, appear before them and assist them in t…

In determining whether or not an appeal filed pursuant to RCW 29A.04.570 and WAC 434-260-160 should be upheld and the final scheduled review report either modified or set aside, the election administration and certification board shall consider the following factors:(1) Whether o…

Election administrators shall become certified upon completion of the following:(1) Completion of the secretary of state's mandatory certification course;(2) Two years of service in election administration during the three-year period immediately prior to the request for initial …

(1) All election administrators shall attend a mandatory certification course sponsored by the secretary of state to be eligible for certification. The mandatory certification course will be offered to election administrators annually.(2) The mandatory certification course will c…

Applications for certification renewal must be submitted by December 31st of every odd-numbered year. The secretary of state will renew certification with the following qualifications:(1) Continuous service as an election administrator during the two years for which renewal is re…

Certification as an election administrator shall expire when minimum requirements for certification renewal are not met. An election administrator may recertify within two years of certification expiration. To recertify, an election administrator must:(1) Attend the secretary of …

The secretary of state shall make available certification applications to election administrators. Applications to renew certification must be submitted to the secretary of state by December 31st each odd-numbered year.Two-year renewal requirements are effective January 1, 2020.[…

The secretary of state shall prepare a training program for county canvassing board members. The training shall be made available upon request.[Statutory Authority: RCW 29A.04.630. WSR 19-12-114, § 434-260-320, filed 6/5/19, effective 1/1/20. Statutory Authority: RCW 29.60.020. W…

All training programs referenced in these rules may be subject to review by the election administration and certification board. Such review shall be only for the purpose of determining whether the training satisfies requirements for certification.[Statutory Authority: RCW 29.60.…

(1) "Manual inspection" is the process of inspecting each voter response position on each voted ballot. Inspection is performed as part of the initial processing;(2) "Ballot duplication" is the process of making a true copy of valid votes from a physically damaged ballot or a bal…

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, § 434-261-007, filed 6/28/06, effective 7/29/06.]

The county auditor shall designate a location to serve as the counting center. If that location is other than the county auditor's office or county election office, the auditor shall include the location of the counting center in the published notice of elections. The county audi…

Counting center operations shall be observed by at least one representative from each political party, if representatives have been appointed by the respective political parties and those representatives are present while the counting center is in operation.Prior to processing ba…

Secure storage is a container or room that stores voted ballots and electronic data containing voted ballot images. Secure storage must employ the use of numbered seals and logs, or other security measures, that document each individual's access to the voted ballots or voted ball…

The county auditor may conduct initial identity verification by using an alternative verification method approved by the office of the secretary of state in accordance with RCW 29A.40.111.If the voter's identity is not accepted by the alternative verification method, the county a…

This section addresses the process for submitting an alternative identity verification proposal pursuant to RCW 29A.40.111. An alternative identity verification option may be used only for a special election held on the second Tuesday in February or the fourth Tuesday in April, a…

In addition to the application requirements in RCW 29A.40.111, the county auditor must include how information about the alternative identity verification method will be targeted to groups with higher rates of ballot rejection and any other groups included in the county's communi…

Following the approval of an alternative identity verification method, the office of the secretary of state must issue written guidance that specifies the approved use of the method and conditions of its use. Alternative identity verification methods are only approved for use in …

(1) This regulation, together with WAC 434-261-052 and 434-261-053, describes the process for verifying that a signature on the ballot declaration is the same as the signature(s) in the voter registration record.(2) At each stage of the signature verification process, there is a …

(1) When conducting an initial review of a ballot declaration signature, the county auditor must accept the signature under the following conditions:(a) The county auditor must accept the signature unless, considering the criteria in WAC 434-261-051, the signature on the ballot e…

(1) If a ballot declaration signature is not accepted following secondary review, the voter used a mark or signature stamp but did not include witnesses, or if the ballot declaration was not signed, the ballot cannot be counted until the voter cures their signature. The voter ide…

If a voter who is provisionally registered and must still verify his or her identity as part of the registration process casts a ballot without providing adequate identification, the ballot cannot be counted unless the voter provides adequate identification no later than the day …

(1) All voting positions on voted ballots shall be manually inspected on both sides of the ballot to determine whether the ballot is readable by the vote tabulating system. The county auditor must ensure that write-in votes are tabulated according to RCW 29A.60.021, consistent wi…

If the voter returns voting responses by mail on any form other than a ballot, the votes thereon shall be acceptable and tallied provided that:(1) Only votes for offices or measures for which the voter is eligible are counted.(2) The candidate or measure response position for whi…

(Effective until January 1, 2027)(1) Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 15481 (a)(6) and Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), the following standards determine whether irregular marks on a ballot constitute a valid vote that may be counted.(a) Target area. Any marks made in the target area sha…

(1) If a ballot is damaged, unreadable, uncountable, or unable to be resolved by the tabulation system, a team of two or more people working together must duplicate ballots to reflect the voter's intent according to WAC 434-261-086. A different team of two or more people working …

In counties tabulating ballots on a digital scan vote tallying system, two staff designated by the auditor's office must resolve each ballot identified as requiring resolution. Staff resolving ballots must have completed training on voter intent rules as outlined in WAC 434-261-0…

Procedures for manual counting of ballots shall be substantially the same as a manual recount according to chapter 434-264 WAC.[Statutory Authority: RCW 29A.04.611, 29A.04.620, and 29A.04.630. WSR 11-24-064, § 434-261-106, filed 12/6/11, effective 1/6/12.]

When conducting a random check of ballot counting equipment, a county auditor must establish the number of counting boards.(1) Each board shall be comprised of no less than two members, made up of:(a) One representative from each of the two major political parties; or(b) Two staf…

Precinct results, showing overvotes and undervotes, shall be inspected by the county canvassing board, or their designees, for anomalies that may indicate problems with the hardware or programming used to tabulate the votes. Anomalies may include, but are not limited to, an abnor…

Votes recorded on DREs must be uploaded into the ballot tabulation program or duplicated onto paper ballots. The upload or duplication may take place after election day. DRE data storage must remain in secure storage before and after tabulation.[Statutory Authority: RCW 29A.04.61…

As used in this rule, unless stated otherwise:(1) "Audit board" means a team of two people assigned to review voter choices on ballots selected for audit.(2) "Ballot comparison audit" means a type of risk-limiting audit in which the audit board examines and reports voter markings…

(1) If the county auditor chooses to conduct a post-election risk-limiting audit under RCW 29A.60.185, the auditor must use one of the types of audits listed in RCW 29A.60.185.(2) At least 45 days prior to a primary or election, a county intending to conduct a risk-limiting audit…

(1) At least 45 days prior to a primary or election, the secretary of state may call for a risk-limiting audit of an office that files with the secretary of state and/or a state measure. The secretary of state shall determine the date and time of the risk-limiting audit.(2) No la…

County elections staff must locate and retrieve each randomly selected ballot from the appropriate storage container. This process may be observed according to WAC 434-261-020. County elections staff must verify that the seals on the appropriate storage containers are those recor…

At the conclusion of a risk-limiting audit, the county auditor must segregate and seal the materials used during the post-election audit, including copies of all tabulation reports, the audited ballots, and a copy of the audit board report. These materials must be returned to sec…

The county auditor may remove from the audit board any persons who indicate to the county auditor that they cannot or do not wish to serve as audit board members, and/or who, in the judgment of the county auditor, lack the ability to properly serve as audit board members.[Statuto…

Whenever counting center personnel has a question about the validity of a ballot or the votes contained on the ballot that they are unable to resolve, the ballot shall be forwarded to the canvassing board for review. The facts giving rise to the question of validity must be noted…

(1) Each county shall establish a free access system, as required by the Help America Vote Act, 52 U.S.C. § 21082 (a)(5)(B), and RCW 29A.60.195 for provisional ballot voters.(2) The free access system must employ measures to ensure that access is free of cost to the voter and res…

Whenever it is determined there is a need to open all containers to conduct a mandatory or requested recount, or when such action is directed by court order, the containers shall be opened and the security of the ballots verified only by those persons designated to do so, in writ…