Bill > SB5382

This bill addresses requirements for ballot measure petitions in Washington state, focusing on improving the integrity of the initiative and referendum process. The legislation mandates that petition signature gatherers must now sign a declaration under penalty of false swearing, which aligns with practices in many other states and aims to reduce fraud in signature collection. Currently, these declarations often go unsigned, leaving no record of who gathered signatures. The bill also requires election officials to verify that a petitioner's residence address on the petition matches the address on their voter registration, which will help prevent invalid signatures from being counted. Specifically, if there is no address match or if the address is not specified, the signature will not be considered valid, though minor discrepancies like incomplete apartment numbers will not automatically invalidate a signature. The legislature recognizes that paid signature gathering can incentivize fraudulent practices, such as encouraging unqualified people to sign petitions or signing the same petition multiple times. By implementing these stricter verification methods, the bill aims to guard the people's initiative and referendum rights against potential fraud and mistakes in the signature gathering process.

Budget and Finance, Government Affairs

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5382&Year=2025&Initiative=false