This bill amends existing Washington election law governing cancellation of deceased voter registrations, inactive voter status, and the procedures and forms for challenging a person’s voter registration. It directs the state registrar of vital statistics to provide county death lists to the secretary of state for comparison and cancellation of registrations, allows county auditors to use government records and obituaries (but requires identity verification by date of birth or address and recording the source/date), and requires signature verification before canceling a registration based on a voter’s written request to cancel or move out of state. It also amends RCW sections including 29A.08.510, 29A.08.135, and 29A.08.850 among others. The bill makes procedural changes to voter-challenge law: challenges must be based on personal knowledge and limited to specific legal grounds (including felony confinement, judicial incompetency, nonresidence, age, or noncitizenship), each challenged voter requires a separate signed paper affidavit, electronic signatures are rejected, and minimum due diligence for residence challenges requires the challenger to personally send certified return-receipt letters using a form from the secretary of state. It sets filing deadlines (generally no later than 45 days before an election with specific 10-day exceptions), requires auditors to publish challenge materials on their websites within 10 business days, provides notice requirements (certified mail, email, phone when available), prescribes hearing procedures with the challenger required to appear, assigns the challenger the burden to prove improper registration beyond a reasonable doubt, and makes decisions final except for superior court review under chapter 34.05 RCW. The bill specifies effects on ballots and registration status if a challenge is sustained: cancellations and noncounting of challenged ballots for most sustained challenges; for residence challenges, voters may correct their address (including up to 8:00 p.m. election day) and certain ballots/races may be counted if corrected before certification, otherwise inactive status or cancellation may follow. It adds penalties: false swearing for knowingly providing false information (referencing RCW 9A.72.040, with fines up to $10,000) and a misdemeanor for knowingly filing a challenge without reasonable cause. Important portions of the bill text are missing from the provided material (a section cuts off mid-sentence and referenced RCW provisions are not included), so some procedural details and exact statutory language are not available in these extracts.

If enacted, county auditors and the secretary of state will take on more hands-on work to remove deceased and out-of-state voters and to process challenges: the state must supply county-by-county death lists for comparison, auditors must verify and record the source/date before canceling registrations, send certified forwardable mail plus email/phone notices, post full challenge materials on their websites within 10 business days, and keep records for the retention period. Challengers must follow stricter steps (hand-signed affidavits, certified letters to the voter’s addresses using a state form, and personal appearance at hearings), face fines or criminal charges for false or unreasonable challenges, and bear the burden to prove claims beyond a reasonable doubt; challenged voters get multiple ways to respond and may update their address until 8:00 p.m. on election day. Those most affected are county auditors (more staff time, postage and notification costs, website publication and recordkeeping duties) and the secretary of state (creating and supplying forms and death-list comparisons). Registered voters and potential challengers will see fewer low-effort or anonymous challenges but challengers incur time and money for certified mail and sworn affidavits and face legal risk for improper challenges. Important implementation details are missing from the provided text (including some portions of Sec. 6 and the full content of RCW 29A.08.810), so exact procedures and timing in certain situations are unclear from these facts.