Ballot measure petitions

AN ACT Relating to requirements pertaining to signatures and 1
addresses of ballot measure petitioners and petition signature 2
gatherers; amending RCW 29A.72.110, 29A.72.120, and 29A.72.130; 3
adding new sections to chapter 29A.72 RCW; 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.72 6
RCW to read as follows: 7
(1) The legislature recognizes that the people have reserved for 8
themselves the power to enact or reject legislation through the 9
initiative and referendum process, as provided in Article II, section 10
1 of the state Constitution. The legislature determines that this 11
right must be further guarded against fraud and mistake.12
(2) The legislature has previously found that "paying a worker, 13
whose task it is to secure the signatures of voters on initiative or 14
referendum petitions, on the basis of the number of signatures the 15
worker secures on the petitions encourages the introduction of fraud 16
in the signature gathering process. Such a form of payment may act as 17
an incentive for the worker to encourage a person to sign a petition 18
which the person is not qualified to sign or to sign a petition for a 19
ballot measure even if the person has already signed a petition for 20
the measure." RCW 29A.84.280. Despite this finding, paid signature 21
H-2577.1
HOUSE BILL 2260
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Ramel, Mena, Ryu, Peterson, Berry, Reed, Obras,
Santos, Cortes, Parshley, Street, Duerr, Kloba, Stonier, Gregerson,
Goodman, Farivar, Macri, Fosse, Hill, Pollet, and Salahuddin
Prefiled 01/05/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on State Government & Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2260
gathering has proliferated in Washington state and is routinely used 1
by ballot measure proponents to qualify initiatives and referenda.2
(3) Currently, the law requires initiative and referendum 3
petitions to include a statement that the petition signature gatherer 4
swears or affirms under penalty of law that, to the best of the 5
circulator's knowledge, every petitioner signed their true name, 6
correctly provided the accompanying information on the signature 7
sheet, and was not compensated or promised compensation for signing 8
the petition. These circulator declarations regularly go unsigned, 9
leaving no record of the paid worker or other person who circulated 10
the petition and was responsible for gathering the signatures 11
contained therein. To adequately guard the people's initiative and 12
referendum right against fraud and mistake, the legislature 13
determines that the law must be clarified to require each petition 14
signature gatherer circulating an initiative or referendum petition 15
to sign the declaration under penalty of false swearing.16
(4) The requirement for the petition circulator to sign such a 17
declaration aligns with similar requirements in many other states in 18
fact, a majority of states that have a ballot measure process require 19
similar signed declarations. This requirement promotes the accuracy 20
and integrity of information furnished on petition sheets and enables 21
meaningful enforcement of existing law addressing petition misconduct 22
and other crimes in chapters 9.44 and 29A.84 RCW. 23
(5) The legislature further finds that an election official 24
verifying that the petitioner's residence address on the petition or 25
paper is the same as the residence address on the affidavit of 26
registration will also guard the people's initiative and referendum 27
right against fraud and mistake. Currently, the law requires 28
initiative and referendum petition sheets to include a place for each 29
petitioner to sign and print his or her name, and the address, city, 30
and county at which he or she is registered to vote. However, in 31
2023, numerous petition signatures on initiatives to the legislature 32
were validated by the secretary of state that were not accompanied by 33
the petitioner's address, city, and county of registration. Without 34
the petitioner's residence address, the secretary of state validated 35
petition signatures by relying on an apparent match between a 36
signature on the petition sheet and a signature associated with a 37
voter registration record, identified through a one-to-many 38
comparison. The requirement for verification of the petitioner's 39
address aligns with similar requirements in several other states, 40
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including Idaho and California. Verifying that the petitioner's 1
residence address on an initiative or referendum petition is the same 2
as the residence address on the petitioner's affidavit of voter 3
registration will improve the accuracy of signature matching by 4
reducing the number of potential comparators and confirming that an 5
apparent signature match is correct. This verification will ensure 6
that validated signatures are from registered voters who are 7
qualified to sign petitions. The requirement reduces the risk that 8
signatures from persons who are not qualified to sign will be 9
incorrectly attributed to a qualified registered voter and that 10
duplicate signatures from the same person will be counted more than 11
once. 12
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 29A.72 13
RCW to read as follows: 14
Each petition signature gatherer circulating an initiative or 15
referendum petition must sign the declaration contained on each sheet 16
of the petition as prescribed in RCW 29A.72.110(1)(b), 17
29A.72.120(1)(b), or 29A.72.130(1)(b). 18
Sec. 3. RCW 29A.72.110 and 2005 c 239 s 1 are each amended to 19
read as follows: 20
(1) Petitions for proposing measures for submission to the 21
legislature at its next regular session must be substantially in the 22
following form: 23
(a) The warning prescribed by RCW 29A.72.140; followed by:24
INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE LEGISLATURE25
To the Honorable . . . . . ., Secretary of State of the State of 26
Washington: 27
We, the undersigned citizens and legal voters of the State of 28
Washington, respectfully direct that this petition and the proposed 29
measure known as Initiative Measure No. . . . . and entitled (here 30
set forth the established ballot title of the measure), a full, true, 31
and correct copy of which is printed on the reverse side of this 32
petition, be transmitted to the legislature of the State of 33
Washington at its next ensuing regular session, and we respectfully 34
petition the legislature to enact said proposed measure into law; and 35
each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this 36
petition; I am a legal voter of the State of Washington in the city 37
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(or town) and county written after my name, my residence address is 1
correctly stated, and I have knowingly signed this petition only 2
once. 3
(b) The following declaration must be printed on the reverse side 4
of the petition: 5
I, . . . . . . . . . . . ., swear or affirm under penalty of 6
((law)) false swearing that I circulated this sheet of the foregoing 7
petition, and that, to the best of my knowledge, every person who 8
signed this sheet of the foregoing petition reviewed the sheet and 9
knowingly and without any compensation or gratuity or promise of 10
compensation or gratuity willingly signed his or her true name and 11
that the information provided therewith is true and correct. I 12
further acknowledge that under chapter 29A.84 RCW, forgery of 13
signatures on this petition constitutes a class C felony, and that 14
offering any consideration or gratuity to any person to induce them 15
to sign a petition is a gross misdemeanor, such violations being 16
punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. 17
Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
State of Washington21
County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
RCW 9A.46.020 applies to any conduct constituting harassment 23
against a petition signature gatherer. This penalty does not preclude 24
the victim from seeking any other remedy otherwise available under 25
law. 26
(2) The petition must include a place for each petitioner to sign 27
and print his or her name, and the address, city, and county at which 28
he or she is registered to vote. 29
Sec. 4. RCW 29A.72.120 and 2005 c 239 s 2 are each amended to 30
read as follows: 31
(1) Petitions for proposing measures for submission to the people 32
for their approval or rejection at the next ensuing general election 33
must be substantially in the following form: 34
(a) The warning prescribed by RCW 29A.72.140; followed by:35
INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE PEOPLE36
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To the Honorable . . . . . ., Secretary of State of the State of 1
Washington: 2
We, the undersigned citizens and legal voters of the State of 3
Washington, respectfully direct that the proposed measure known as 4
Initiative Measure No. . . . ., entitled (here insert the established 5
ballot title of the measure), a full, true and correct copy of which 6
is printed on the reverse side of this petition, be submitted to the 7
legal voters of the State of Washington for their approval or 8
rejection at the general election to be held on the . . . . . day of 9
November, (year); and each of us for himself or herself says: I have 10
personally signed this petition; I am a legal voter of the State of 11
Washington, in the city (or town) and county written after my name, 12
my residence address is correctly stated, and I have knowingly signed 13
this petition only once. 14
(b) The following declaration must be printed on the reverse side 15
of the petition: 16
I, . . . . . . . . . . . ., swear or affirm under penalty of 17
((law)) false swearing that I circulated this sheet of the foregoing 18
petition, and that, to the best of my knowledge, every person who 19
signed this sheet of the foregoing petition reviewed the sheet and 20
knowingly and without any compensation or gratuity or promise of 21
compensation or gratuity willingly signed his or her true name and 22
that the information provided therewith is true and correct. I 23
further acknowledge that under chapter 29A.84 RCW, forgery of 24
signatures on this petition constitutes a class C felony, and that 25
offering any consideration or gratuity to any person to induce them 26
to sign a petition is a gross misdemeanor, such violations being 27
punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. 28
Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
State of Washington32
County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
RCW 9A.46.020 applies to any conduct constituting harassment 34
against a petition signature gatherer. This penalty does not preclude 35
the victim from seeking any other remedy otherwise available under 36
law. 37
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(2) The petition must include a place for each petitioner to sign 1
and print his or her name, and the address, city, and county at which 2
he or she is registered to vote. 3
Sec. 5. RCW 29A.72.130 and 2013 c 11 s 74 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) Petitions ordering that acts or parts of acts passed by the 6
legislature be referred to the people at the next ensuing general 7
election, or special election ordered by the legislature, must be 8
substantially in the following form: 9
(a) The warning prescribed by RCW 29A.72.140; followed by:10
PETITION FOR REFERENDUM 11
To the Honorable . . . . . ., Secretary of State of the State of 12
Washington: 13
We, the undersigned citizens and legal voters of the State of 14
Washington, respectfully order and direct that Referendum Measure 15
No. . . . . ., filed to revoke a (or part or parts of a) bill that 16
(concise statement required by RCW 29A.72.050) and that was passed by 17
the . . . . . . legislature of the State of Washington at the last 18
regular (special) session of said legislature, shall be referred to 19
the people of the state for their approval or rejection at the 20
regular (special) election to be held on the . . . . day of November, 21
(year); and each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally 22
signed this petition; I am a legal voter of the State of Washington, 23
in the city (or town) and county written after my name, my residence 24
address is correctly stated, and I have knowingly signed this 25
petition only once. 26
(b) The following declaration must be printed on the reverse side 27
of the petition: 28
I, . . . . . . . . . . . ., swear or affirm under penalty of 29
((law)) false swearing that I circulated this sheet of the foregoing 30
petition, and that, to the best of my knowledge, every person who 31
signed this sheet of the foregoing petition reviewed the sheet and 32
knowingly and without any compensation or gratuity or promise of 33
compensation or gratuity willingly signed his or her true name and 34
that the information provided therewith is true and correct. I 35
further acknowledge that under chapter 29A.84 RCW, forgery of 36
signatures on this petition constitutes a class C felony, and that 37
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offering any consideration or gratuity to any person to induce them 1
to sign a petition is a gross misdemeanor, such violations being 2
punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. 3
Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
State of Washington7
County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
RCW 9A.46.020 applies to any conduct constituting harassment 9
against a petition signature gatherer. This penalty does not preclude 10
the victim from seeking any other remedy otherwise available under 11
law. 12
(2) The petition must include a place for each petitioner to sign 13
and print his or her name, and the address, city, and county at which 14
he or she is registered to vote. 15
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 29A.72 16
RCW to read as follows: 17
(1)(a) For purposes of verifying a signature on an initiative or 18
referendum petition, the secretary of state shall verify that the 19
residence address on the petition or paper is the same as the 20
residence address on the affidavit of voter registration or a 21
previous affidavit of voter registration. If there is no residence 22
address match, or if the petition or paper does not specify the 23
residence address, or if the information required to be provided 24
under this chapter is not contained in the petition, the affected 25
signature shall not be counted as valid. 26
(b) Notwithstanding (a) of this subsection, the secretary of 27
state shall not invalidate a signature for minor discrepancies, such 28
as an incomplete or inaccurate apartment or unit number in the 29
signer's residence address. 30
(2) A signature invalidated pursuant to this section does not 31
affect the validity of another valid signature on the particular 32
petition or paper. 33
(3) The requirements of this section do not affect the use of 34
statistical sampling techniques for verifying signatures under RCW 35
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29A.72.230. Address verification as part of statistical sampling is 1
sufficient to meet the requirements of this section.2
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