Bipartisan secretaries of state object to election bill Republicans dub ‘initiative killer’

OLYMPIA – A current and a former top election official in Washington are opposing a proposal to require address verification on initiatives, arguing the proposal is “not needed” and is “trying to fix a problem that does not exist.”

If adopted, the bill would require signature gatherers to sign a declaration on each petition page that includes the signature gatherers’ name, address, county of residence and the date they signed the declaration. The bill would also require the secretary of state to verify that the addresses of the petition signers match the state’s voter registration file.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, dubbed the bill an “initiative killer.”

“That really takes a jab at the people’s constitutional right to enter into their government and democracy,” Braun said. “It’s just a bad bill with no real purpose other than to discourage the people of our state from participating in the initiative process. And that’s wrong.”

Initiatives to the Legislature have seen greater public interest in recent months after a political action committee gathered enough signatures to submit six during the 2024 session. Under Washington law, signature gatherers must collect signatures totaling at least 8% of the number of votes cast from the last gubernatorial election to qualify.

Last year, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled that the secretary of state is not required to verify a petitioner’s address, adding that such a requirement could be implemented by either the secretary of state or passed by the Legislature.

During a hearing in the Senate Government Committee earlier this month, bill sponsor Sen. Javier Valdez, D-Seattle, said the bill would “help Washington state law” and align it with best practices.

“Since the mid-2000s, our initiative petitions have included an attestation that the person who is turning in the petition sheet circulated the petition themselves and that to the best of their knowledge, every person who signed and reviewed the sheet, and knowingly signed without any kind of compensation, and that information on the sheet is true and correct,” Valdez said.

The bill, Valdez said, is based off of similar laws in other states, including California and Ohio.

If passed, the secretary of state would be directed to reject a petition signature if a petition signer fails to include an address or the address does not match what was on file.

“This has been wildly opposed both times it’s been heard so far, overwhelmingly, I think 90-plus percent opposed. They’re getting lots of feedback from voters across the state that say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t mess with our ability to access democracy directly.’ ”

As he urged legislators to reject the legislation Monday, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said the bill does not take into account the costs of lawsuits “that will happen” and pointed to overseas voters and those in the military.

“When I served in the military, I had an armed services post office. If they put that on there, it invalidates them,” Hobbs said. “If you have a college student, maybe you have a senior citizen that forgets their address and put a P.O. Box, it would invalidate them as well.”

The bill also would be irrelevant if adopted, Hobbs said, as Washington’s constitution only requires someone to be a registered voter to sign a petition.

Joining Hobbs on Monday was Sam Reed, a Republican who served three terms as Washington’s top election official. Hobbs said, during his time in public office, he’s learned how much Washington residents value the ability to petition the Legislature to change laws.

“This is a part of our political culture; this is part of our legacy,” Reed said. “To start messing around and say, ‘We’re going try to suppress the right of people to participate if they don’t put in the right address,’ or if the person who circulated the petition, a volunteer or some part-time person, doesn’t jump through all of the right hoops, all of a sudden this person doesn’t have the right to participate in the system. This is wrong.”

The bill was approved by the Senate Government Committee on Feb. 18 and is currently in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.