SB 5902 amends several existing voter registration statutes (RCW 29A.08.140, 29A.08.410, 29A.08.359, and 29A.08.030) to change procedures and deadlines for voter registration, registration updates, and related notices. It defines when an application is "received" (physical receipt by close of business or online by midnight), sets an eight-day receipt deadline for most registrations and address changes before primaries and general elections, and allows in-person registration and in-person address changes to be effective if completed by 8:00 p.m. on election day. The bill requires daily transmission of certain Department of Licensing registration information to the Secretary of State and requires county auditors to send an automatic voter registration acknowledgment notice package within 60 days after receiving an automatic registration application from the Department of Licensing. The package must include a prepaid return form to decline registration or updates, explanation of registration status and qualifications, language assistance info, and an acknowledgment notice. If an application is incomplete, auditors must mail a verification notice and must register the applicant if required missing information is returned within 45 days. A person who declines registration in a reply received within 15 days of mailing the automatic registration packet is treated as never registered; a later decline results in cancellation. The Department of Licensing is prohibited from sharing automated voter registration data files with federal agencies or state agencies other than the Secretary of State, and driver license/identicard personal information is exempt from public inspection under RCW 42.56.230. Auditors may use email, phone, or text in addition to mail for communications and may omit mailed notice if the voter responds by those alternate methods. This is a modification of existing law that makes procedural changes to voter registration processes, notice requirements, and data sharing restrictions; it does not create a new criminal offense or change criminal penalties in the provided text. Several referenced statutory provisions and implementation details (for example, exact content requirements tied to other RCWs, how automatic registration is implemented at other agencies under RCW 29A.08.365, and which counties are "conducting an election") are cited but not included here, so full effect and differences from prior law cannot be determined from the provided facts alone.

If enacted, county auditors and the Secretary of State would take on new, time-sensitive work: license-office registrations must be sent to the Secretary of State every day, county auditors must mail an automatic voter registration acknowledgement package within 60 days to people who register through the Department of Licensing, and auditors must follow new verification and cure timelines (45 days to fix incomplete applications) and allow voters to decline AVR within 15 days to be treated as never registered. Auditors would also be able to use email, phone, or text instead of mailed notices when voters respond, and the Department of Licensing would be barred from sharing its AVR files with federal agencies or other state agencies. Practically this likely increases mailing, communication, and processing costs and staff time for county auditor offices, creates ongoing daily data handling responsibilities for the Secretary of State, and reduces data-sharing options for the Department of Licensing; voters gain automatic registration with clear notice and opt-out windows. Important details needed to predict exact costs and workflows are missing: the bill references other statutes for application content, language assistance, and how automatic registration is implemented at other agencies, and it notes some provisions only apply when a county is “conducting an election,” but those operational definitions and any funding to support the new duties are not included in the extracted facts.