Voting in jails, hospitals

AN ACT Relating to improving access and removing barriers to 1
voting in jails and state hospitals; adding a new section to chapter 2
29A.04 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 29A RCW; creating a new 3
section; and prescribing penalties. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 29A.04 6
RCW to read as follows: 7
(1) "Jail" has the same meaning as in RCW 70.48.020.8
(2) "People who are incarcerated" means people who are detained 9
in a jail or people who are patients in a state hospital.10
(3) "State hospital" has the same meaning as in RCW 72.23.010.11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The legislature recognizes that it is the 12
duty of the county auditor to conduct elections, and it is the duty 13
of the jails and state hospitals to reasonably eliminate barriers to 14
voting for people who are incarcerated and to enable people who are 15
incarcerated to exercise their rights consistent with community 16
standards as is reasonable under the circumstances.17
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Each county auditor's office must 18
designate one employee as the jail voting coordinator for the county. 19
Z-0141.3
HOUSE BILL 1146
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Simmons, Farivar, Ryu, Mena, Macri, Obras, Doglio,
Gregerson, Pollet, Ormsby, and Hill; by request of Secretary of State
Prefiled 12/31/24. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on State Government & Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 1146
This person shall also serve as the state hospital voting coordinator 1
for the county if applicable. 2
(2) Each jail must designate one employee as the jail voting 3
coordinator for the jail. 4
(3) Each state hospital must designate one employee as the state 5
hospital voting coordinator. 6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Each county auditor must create a 7
voting plan for each jail and state hospital within the county. The 8
plan must be created jointly with the jail voting coordinator at each 9
jail or the state hospital voting coordinator at each state hospital, 10
and in consultation with the office of the secretary of state. The 11
voting plan must be jointly adopted by the county auditor and the 12
jail or state hospital. The initial plan must be adopted by January 13
1, 2026, and plans must be reviewed and readopted at least every two 14
years. If the county auditor and a jail or state hospital cannot 15
jointly agree on adopting a plan at least 90 days prior to a primary, 16
the secretary of state shall assign a temporary plan until a plan is 17
jointly adopted.18
(2) The voting plan must include, at a minimum, details about how 19
the jail or state hospital will help people who are incarcerated to:20
(a) Register to vote or update their voter registration 21
information; 22
(b) Access proof of their identification or residency as may be 23
necessary to register to vote; 24
(c) Access information about, and materials necessary for, 25
eligibility for voting and voting rights restoration;26
(d) Access nonpartisan information about candidates and other 27
voter education materials, including the relevant voters' pamphlets 28
and other nongovernmental voting-related materials;29
(e) Access the necessary writing materials to fill out ballots; 30
and 31
(f) Complete their ballots in private. 32
(3) The voting plans must also include, at a minimum, details 33
about how the jail or state hospital and the county auditor will:34
(a) Provide visible information regarding registering to vote and 35
accessing a ballot for people who are incarcerated;36
(b) Ensure that all people who are incarcerated are made aware of 37
key dates for registering to vote and returning a ballot;38
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(c) Establish a process by which voter registration and ballot 1
return data is collected; 2
(d) Establish a process by which voting-related requests and 3
complaints made by people who are incarcerated are documented and 4
properly considered; 5
(e) Accommodate people with disabilities to register to vote and 6
fill out ballots, including the use of accessible voting devices 7
provided and maintained by the county auditor as required under the 8
help America vote act; and 9
(f) Provide equal access to candidates who request to campaign in 10
jails or state hospitals. 11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Jails and state hospitals must provide 12
people who are incarcerated with access to voter registration 13
information, ballot-related information, and ballots in accordance 14
with their voting plan developed under section 4 of this act. Ballots 15
must be made accessible to registered voters starting at least eight 16
days before a primary or election.17
(2) Jails and state hospitals must permit election officials from 18
the county auditor's office and staff from the secretary of state's 19
office to enter the jail or state hospital at least 30 days in 20
advance of each election in order to provide voter registration 21
outreach and education to people who are incarcerated. Election 22
officials are subject to standard local jail or state hospital 23
clearance processes. 24
(3) Jails and state hospitals must treat election-related 25
materials delivered by mail or sent by people who are incarcerated as 26
high priority mail. 27
(4) Jails and state hospitals must provide information about, and 28
materials necessary for, registering to vote to all people who are 29
released from the jail's or hospital's custody at the time of their 30
release. 31
(5) Jails and state hospitals must document all voting-related 32
requests and complaints made by people who are incarcerated.33
(6) County auditors, jails, and state hospitals must collect data 34
related to voter registration and ballot return from people who are 35
incarcerated. 36
(7) Data collected under subsections (5) and (6) of this section 37
must be reported to the relevant county auditor and to the secretary 38
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of state. The secretary of state must publicly report this data 1
annually. 2
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Nothing in this chapter may be interpreted 3
as requiring a jail or state hospital to jeopardize the operational 4
or security needs of the jail or state hospital.5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. (1) As a matter of state interest and 6
public concern under RCW 43.10.030(1), the attorney general may 7
investigate and bring an action against a county, jail, or state 8
hospital for violations of this chapter. In the discretion of the 9
court, the attorney general may recover the costs of the action 10
including reasonable attorneys' fees if the attorney general prevails 11
in the action.12
(2) The attorney general's power under this section includes the 13
authority to: 14
(a) Investigate violations under subsection (1) of this section 15
on its own initiative or in response to a complaint;16
(b) Issue written civil investigative demands for documents and 17
oral testimony, and answers to written interrogatories; and18
(c) Institute civil actions in the courts. 19
(3) If the court finds that a county, jail, or state hospital 20
intentionally violated a provision of this act, the court shall award 21
$25,000 per violation to the attorney general. 22
(4) Money collected by the attorney general under subsection (3) 23
of this section shall be remitted to the secretary of state to use to 24
increase accessibility for voters in jails and state hospitals.25
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 2 through 7 of this act 26
constitute a new chapter in Title 29A RCW. 27
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Subject to the availability of amounts 28
appropriated for this specific purpose, the secretary of state must 29
enter into an agreement with the University of Washington Evans 30
school of public policy and governance for the purpose of examining 31
the processes associated with providing voter registration, voting 32
materials, and voting assistance to people who are incarcerated in 33
jails and state hospitals throughout the state. The study should 34
identify challenges and make recommendations to ensure that election 35
offices, jails, and state hospitals are able to provide all 36
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registered voters and eligible citizens in jail or in a state 1
hospital with voter registration and voting assistance prior to each 2
election. The Evans school must submit a final report, in compliance 3
with RCW 43.01.036, to the governor, secretary of state, and the 4
appropriate committees of the legislature by June 30, 2026.5
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