The bill directs the Washington secretary of state to explore, develop, and test options for an electronic ballot return portal limited to "covered voters" who cannot use standard mail return. It requires the secretary to ensure any tested portal is secure against electronic monitoring or interference, maximizes voter secrecy and privacy, and prevents multiple votes by the same covered voter. The secretary of state is authorized to adopt rules on portal use, availability times, ballot storage, testing standards, and examination procedures, and counties using an approved portal must record every ballot-return attempt and report counts and confirmation that only covered voters used the portal. "Covered voter" is defined to include service voters, overseas voters, disabled voters, and eligible incarcerated voters except those whose voting rights have been revoked and not yet restored under the cited RCW. The secretary of state must submit progress reports to the appropriate legislative committees beginning December 1, 2025, annually thereafter, and a final report due December 1, 2028. Counties must submit their post-voting-period reports to the secretary of state according to the deadlines in RCW 29A.60.190, and the secretary must prepare an annual statewide aggregated report. The measure establishes new procedural requirements and reporting duties and authorizes rulemaking and testing authority for an electronic ballot portal; it also expressly prohibits approving or deploying any electronic ballot portal without express statutory authority. The extracted text does not mention any changes to criminal penalties. Important context is missing from the extracted facts: the actual statutory mechanism or criteria for granting the required "express statutory authority" to approve or deploy a portal is not described; the specific definitions in the cited RCWs and the exact deadlines in RCW 29A.60.190 are not included; the identity of the "appropriate legislative committees," the definition of "voting period," and the approval process for an "approved portal" are also not specified in the provided material.

If enacted, the secretary of state would be directed to create and test a secure electronic ballot return option limited only to covered voters (service and overseas voters, disabled voters, and eligible incarcerated voters). That office would adopt rules on how the portal works, run security and privacy testing, and send progress reports to the legislature starting December 1, 2025 and annually through a final report on December 1, 2028; counties that use an approved portal must log every ballot return attempt and submit reports to the secretary of state after each voting period, and the state will compile an annual statewide summary. Deployment of any portal is blocked until the legislature gives explicit statutory authority, so covered voters would only gain this option if and when that authority is granted and the portal is approved. Practically, the secretary of state will take on new development, testing, rulemaking, and reporting duties and likely need added staff, technical resources, and funding to meet security and privacy standards; counties that choose to use a portal will face added administrative work and costs to record and report every attempt and to verify only covered voters used the system. The bill emphasizes strong security and secrecy requirements, so testing and compliance are a key operational risk and expense. Important implementation details are missing here, including who would grant approval, the exact definitions and deadlines referenced in other laws, and what counts as a “voting period,” so those gaps could affect timing, cost, and how quickly covered voters actually get access.