Voter database access

AN ACT Relating to providing secure online access to the voter 1
registration database; and amending RCW 29A.08.125.2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 29A.08.125 and 2023 c 466 s 5 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) The office of the secretary of state shall maintain a 6
statewide voter registration database. This database must be a 7
centralized, uniform, interactive computerized statewide voter 8
registration list that contains the name and registration information 9
of every registered voter in the state. 10
(2) The statewide list is the official list of registered voters 11
for the conduct of all elections. 12
(3) The statewide list must include, but is not limited to, the 13
name, date of birth, residence address, signature, gender, and date 14
of registration of every legally registered voter in the state.15
(4) A unique identifier must be assigned to each registered voter 16
in the state. 17
(5) The database must be coordinated with other government 18
databases within the state including, but not limited to, the 19
department of corrections, the department of licensing, the 20
H-1504.1
HOUSE BILL 2004
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Chase and Volz
Read first time 02/20/25. Referred to Committee on State Government
& Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2004
department of health, and county auditors. The database may also be 1
coordinated with the databases of election officials in other states.2
(6) Authorized employees of the secretary of state and each 3
county auditor must have immediate electronic access to the 4
information maintained in the database. 5
(7) Voter registration information received by each county 6
auditor must be electronically entered into the database. The office 7
of the secretary of state must provide support, as needed, to enable 8
each county auditor to enter and maintain voter registration 9
information in the state database. 10
(8) The secretary of state has data authority over all voter 11
registration data. 12
(9) The voter registration database must be designed to 13
accomplish at a minimum, the following: 14
(a) Comply with the help America vote act of 2002 (P.L. 107-252);15
(b) Identify duplicate voter registrations; 16
(c) Identify suspected duplicate voters; 17
(d) Screen against any available databases maintained by other 18
government agencies to identify voters who are ineligible to vote due 19
to serving a sentence of total confinement as the result of a felony 20
conviction, lack of citizenship, or a court finding of mental 21
incompetence; 22
(e) Provide images of voters' signatures for the purpose of 23
checking signatures on initiative and referendum petitions;24
(f) Provide for a comparison between the voter registration 25
database and the department of licensing change of address database;26
(g) Provide access for county auditors that includes the 27
capability to update registrations and search for duplicate 28
registrations; 29
(h) Provide for the cancellation of registrations of voters who 30
have moved out of state; ((and))31
(i) Provide for the storage of pending registration records for 32
all future voters who have not yet reached ((eighteen)) 18 years of 33
age in a manner that these records will not appear on the official 34
list of registered voters until the future registrant is no longer in 35
pending status as defined under RCW 29A.08.615; and36
(j) Provide secure online access to voters for printing 37
replacement ballots and updating voter registration information. The 38
secure online voter access must use an individual verification system 39
for each voter to access their voter profile within the database. The 40
p. 2 HB 2004
individualized verification system must be secure, unique to each 1
voter, not connected to the voter identification or any other 2
information specific to that voter, and must enable a process through 3
which the voter may remedy a forgotten or lost password, pin, or 4
other verification method. The verification system is exempt from 5
public inspection and copying under chapter 42.56 RCW.6
(10) The secretary of state may, upon agreement with other 7
appropriate jurisdictions, screen against any available databases 8
maintained by election officials in other states and databases 9
maintained by federal agencies including, but not limited to, the 10
federal bureau of investigation, the federal court system, the 11
federal bureau of prisons, and the bureau of citizenship and 12
immigration services. 13
(11) The database shall retain information regarding previous 14
successful appeals of proposed cancellations of registrations in 15
order to avoid repeated cancellations for the same reason.16
(12) Each county auditor shall maintain a list of all registered 17
voters within the county that are contained on the official statewide 18
voter registration list. In addition to the information maintained in 19
the statewide database, the county database must also maintain the 20
applicable taxing district and precinct codes for each voter in the 21
county, and a list of elections in which the individual voted.22
(13) Each county auditor shall allow electronic access and 23
information transfer between the county's voter registration system 24
and the official statewide voter registration list.25
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p. 3 HB 2004