House Bill 1584 (H-0520.5) would substantially rewrite Washington’s election law by amending many sections of Title 29A RCW, reenacting and amending RCW 29A.40.110, adding new sections and a new chapter, and creating new administrative duties, procedures, and penalties. Its stated purpose is to end universal “vote by mail” for non‑absentee voters and restore in‑person voting at polling places and voting centers while permitting limited absentee voting for specified categories of voters (for example, age 65+, voters with disabilities, overseas and service voters, persons temporarily outside the state, certain incarcerated persons whose rights are restored, and others listed). The bill prescribes registration deadlines and methods (registrations received by an election official no later than eight days before an election, or in person up to 8:00 p.m. on election day), enumerates methods to transfer or update registrations, and requires county auditors and the Secretary of State to adopt rules and accessibility plans, with county advisory committees on disability access and annual updates. The bill makes detailed procedural changes governing absentee ballots, voting centers, polling places, ballot handling, signature verification, observers, recounts, audits, and canvass timelines. Key procedures include limited windows for absentee ballot requests (no earlier than 90 days and no later than the day before the election), minimum advance mailing deadlines for absentee ballots (generally at least 18 days for domestic approved requests and longer for overseas/service voters), required prepaid postage and return deadlines (received by 8:00 p.m. on election day or postmarked by that day), special absentee ballots for voters unable to return regular ballots by mail, training and qualification requirements for personnel who operate voting systems, mandatory paper records for direct recording electronic devices, at least one certified accessible voting unit per polling place or voting center, requirements for chain of custody and sealing of devices and ballots, processes for signature mismatch notification and limited cure rules, public posting and reporting requirements (including transmission of absentee signature mismatch records to the Secretary of State within 48 hours and a state report analyzing county voting statistics), and specified canvass deadlines (for example, 10 days after certain special or presidential primary elections, 14 days after a primary, and 21 days after a general election). The bill also creates or clarifies criminal and civil penalties and new offenses related to election administration and security. It makes interfering with voters or the operation of voting centers a gross misdemeanor, makes it a misdemeanor for an election officer to electioneer at a polling place or voting center (fine up to $100 plus costs), and classifies unauthorized removal of ballots or paper records from polling places or voting centers and willful destruction of election materials as class C felonies. It adds a definition for “poll‑site ballot counting device” and imposes requirements for observers, random checks/audits, precinct officer appointments, student engagement hubs for voter registration at campuses, and many other operational details. Important implementation details, many specific statutory edits, some rulemaking lists, and effective or expiration dates are referenced in the bill but are not fully contained in the extracted text, so the complete statutory language, exact effective dates, and certain truncated sections are not available here.

If enacted, the bill would move Washington away from broad vote-by-mail toward largely in-person voting: most voters would need to vote at polling places or county voting centers (including voting centers at county auditor offices and in larger cities) while absentee ballots would be limited to specific categories such as seniors, people with disabilities, military and overseas voters, students temporarily outside their county, and a few others. Counties would have to provide accessible voting units (including at least one unit for blind or visually impaired voters at every center), operate absentee drop boxes and student engagement hubs on campuses, follow strict mailing and processing timelines for approved absentee requests, and keep tighter records on returned and challenged absentee ballots. The practical burden falls heaviest on county auditors and their staff, who would incur new duties, training, staffing, equipment, and recordkeeping costs: establishing and updating disability advisory committees and accessibility plans, qualifying and instructing all personnel who operate voting systems, managing seal/logging and secure transport of ballots, running random checks and reconciliations, and submitting timely reports and records to the secretary of state. The secretary of state gains expanded rulemaking and oversight responsibilities and must publish statewide reports; political parties retain observer rights but face clearer prohibitions and stiffer criminal penalties for interference or unauthorized handling of ballots. Important implementation details—such as the exact statutory mechanism that ends general vote-by-mail, some timing and rule specifics, and effective dates—are not fully present in the provided text, so the practical timeline and funding sources for these changes remain uncertain.