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Bill

SB 5890

Reducing ballot rejection rates through updates to ballot curing, canvassing, reporting, and outreach processes.

2023-2024 Regular Session Introduced by Manka Dhingra and 6 co-sponsors

Standardizes signature verification and expands voter cure outreach to reduce mail-ballot rejection rates.

Effective date 6/6/2024*.
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Bill Summary · SB 5890

SB 5890 — Reducing ballot rejection rates through updates to ballot curing, canvassing, reporting, and outreach processes

  • Bill: Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5890 (68th Legislature, 2024)
  • Sponsors: Senate Committee on State Government & Elections (originally Senators Valdez, Hunt, Dhingra, Kuderer, Nguyen, Nobles, Pedersen)
  • Chapter/Enacted: Chapter 269, 2024 Laws
  • Governor signed: 3/26/2024 — Effective date: 6/6/2024

Purpose / Intent

To reduce mail-ballot rejection rates by improving how counties notify voters about signature problems, standardizing signature-verification practices, enhancing outreach and forms, increasing transparency and training, and making canvassing processes more accessible.

Key provisions and changes

  • Expanded voter contact for curing signature problems

    • County auditors must notify voters whose ballot declaration is unsigned or whose signature does not match by first-class mail and, if available, by telephone, text, or email.
    • Auditors must attempt telephone/text/email notification when ballots are received within five (changed from three) business days of the final canvassing board meeting or when a mailed notice has not been responded to five business days before the meeting.
    • If a call is made and voicemail is available, auditors must leave a voicemail.

  • Signature verification standards, training, and compliance tools

    • Secretary of State (SOS) must adopt and periodically review statewide standards for comparing ballot-declaration signatures to registration signatures.
    • SOS must publish and update a training manual (reviewed by experts) and provide tools to help confirm compliance (may include random compliance checks).
    • Training materials for canvassing review board members and election personnel must be open to public observation.

  • Forms, language access, and outreach

    • SOS to design standardized forms for curing incomplete declarations and updating voter signatures; forms must be made available in the languages required of state agencies and include oath/warning language.
    • Each county auditor must publish these forms online and in their office.
    • County auditors must develop a community outreach plan (plain language, multilingual) explaining signature requirements, how to cure ballots, and how to update registrations.

  • Recordkeeping and reporting

    • Auditors must keep records of all ballots with missing/mismatched signatures, including contact/mailing dates and dates voters updated information.
    • Records must be updated daily while ballots are processed and sent to the SOS within 48 hours of creation/update; SOS must make records publicly available within 24 hours of receipt.

  • Other notable provisions

    • Ballot declarations must inform voters that signatures will be compared to registration signatures (deadline for full compliance: by June 1, 2025).
    • If a signature mismatch is due to a name change or nickname/initials, ballots may be counted if handwriting/surname are clearly the same; auditors must send change-of-name forms where applicable.
    • If a voter's ballot is rejected in two consecutive primary or general elections due to signature mismatch, the auditor must contact the voter and request they update their registration signature.
    • Auditors offering electronic submission of a signature must implement privacy/security protocols ensuring secure, limited-use transmission.
    • A voter may not cure a missing or mismatched signature for counting during a recount.
    • SOS is encouraged to provide multiple signature blocks on voter applications; counties are encouraged to contact voters after certification to request updated signatures (optional and non-binding; must be clearly stated).

  • Accessibility and process transparency

    • Canvassing board meetings must be held at times/locations accessible to the public; training materials open to observation increases transparency.
    • A work group is created to consider a uniform ballot envelope design (as reflected in bill reports).

Who is affected

  • Voters whose ballots are unsigned or have signature mismatches (more notification and outreach).
  • County auditors and canvassing boards (additional notification duties, recordkeeping, outreach, and possibly workload).
  • Secretary of State (responsible for statewide standards, tools, forms, and public reporting).
  • Election personnel (new training standards and public observation of training).

Expected impacts and considerations

  • Likely reduction in ballot rejections through earlier/more varied notifications, standardized verification, clearer forms and outreach, and updated training.
  • Increased administrative tasks and data-handling responsibilities for county auditors and SOS (notification, daily record updates, public reporting).
  • Emphasis on language access and plain-language materials aims to reduce disparities in rejection rates among multilingual communities.
  • Privacy/security requirements for electronic signature submissions seek to mitigate data-risk concerns.

Timeline / Effective date

  • Governor signed: March 26, 2024; effective date: June 6, 2024. (Chapter 269, 2024 Laws)

This summary captures the primary operational and procedural reforms in SB 5890 intended to lower ballot rejection rates and standardize how Washington handles signature verification and ballot curing.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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