Bill
SB 5669
SB 5669 enables mail-only irrigation district elections, tightens ballot security with two envelopes and 7-day receipt window, updates absentee certification, and adds penalties.
Status: Enacted (Chapter 191, 2025 Laws). Governor signed 4/30/2025; effective 7/27/2025.
Introduced: 2/5/2025. Sponsors: Senators Torres, Short, Dozier, Schoesler, Warnick.
SB 5669 updates Washington law governing elections for irrigation district boards. The bill modernizes absentee and mail balloting procedures, clarifies voter qualification and ballot-delivery rules, adds election‑security requirements, and creates penalties for certain election and election‑security violations.
Authorizes mail‑only elections: A district board may adopt a resolution to conduct an election entirely by mail (no polling places). Ballots are to be provided to qualified electors derived from the district’s assessment roll, toll/charge roll, other district records, and may use county assessor or other public records to determine electors. Individuals who did not receive a ballot can present proof of qualification at the district main office by close of business the day before the election and, if qualified, receive a ballot.
Two‑envelope security and deadlines: Returned absentee/mail ballots must be enclosed in a security envelope (which may include completion instructions) and then placed in an outer envelope. Mailed ballots must be postmarked by midnight on election day and received by the district secretary within seven days after election day (changed from five in prior law).
Revised absentee certification: The required certificate of qualifications that accompanies absentee ballots must state the voter’s name, age, citizenship, residence, and that the voter holds title (or evidence of title) to lands that entitle them to vote in the district. The bill removes the old witness signature requirement and requires the voter to certify under penalty of perjury that they meet the qualifications. Districts may print the qualifications statement on the outer envelope.
Clarifications to voter‑weight/qualification language: The bill amends RCW sections governing how votes are allocated (e.g., acreage‑based votes in large districts), and clarifies residency/age/title language (e.g., 200,000‑acre threshold, 18 years old).
Election security, information, and penalties: The bill adds provisions requiring certain irrigation districts to annually provide qualified electors with election information and to comply with specified election security measures. It also prescribes criminal penalties for violations of irrigation district election laws and election‑security requirements. (The enacted text amends multiple RCW sections in chapter 87.03.)
Districts gain an explicit, statutory pathway to conduct mail‑only elections and clearer procedures for absentee/mail ballots, which should simplify mail voting administration but also impose new security and certification duties. Changes to certification (removal of witness, penalty‑of‑perjury attestation) and longer receipt window for mailed ballots (7 days) alter how ballots are validated and processed. The addition of election‑security requirements and criminal penalties raises compliance stakes for districts and election officials.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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