SB 5892: CON – Senate State Government & Tribal Committee – Protecting the voter registration database. PUBLIC HEARING JAN 20 @ 1:30 PM.
Register CON. Submit Written Comments. Register to Testify
Codifies SOS Hobbs’ new “emergency” WAC 434-324-145 – DL #, SS# and full birthdate of a registrant are confidential and can't be disclosed. Mandates that all Public Records Requests involving the statewide voter registration database must be handled exclusively by SoS. If a county elections office receives such a request, it “shall not produce any records in response to the request” and must instead redirect to the SoS. A “knowing violation” is defined as a violation of RCW 29A.84.150, which makes it a class C felony for an election official or designee to knowingly disclose or misuse voter registration data outside the scope of official duties.
CCRP Comments: What Secretary of State Hobbs is trying to use to keep from giving databases to The U.S. Department of Justice. This disallows the checking of non-citizens. At the minimum, the bill needs to be Amended to include protections for the private information of voters who sign petitions.