H-3072.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2250
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By House State Government & Tribal Relations (originally sponsored by
Representatives Gregerson, Walen, Mena, Ramel, Duerr, Peterson, Reed,
Berry, Berg, Stonier, Callan, Ryu, Chapman, Bateman, Reeves, Paul,
Ormsby, Fosse, Cortes, Macri, Doglio, and Goodman)
READ FIRST TIME 01/31/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to increasing representation and voter
2 participation in local elections; amending RCW 29A.60.221,
3 29A.52.112, 29A.52.220, 36.32.040, 36.32.050, 29A.04.410, 29A.12.080,
4 and 29A.36.121; reenacting and amending RCW 29A.36.170; adding a new
5 section to chapter 29A.52 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 29A.04
6 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 52.14 RCW; adding a new section
7 to chapter 53.12 RCW; creating new sections; repealing RCW
8 29A.04.127; and providing an expiration date.
9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
10 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that jurisdictions
11 throughout the state have been discussing adopting ranked choice
12 voting to elect their officials, with some jurisdictions exploring
13 the concept through resolutions and proposed charter amendments,
14 plaintiffs in Yakima county requesting it as a remedy under the
15 Washington voting rights act in July 2020, and Seattle voters having
16 already chosen it in November 2022. Without legislative guidance,
17 however, local governments and courts considering ranked choice
18 voting must independently develop their own unique methodology to
19 implement it.
20 The legislature wishes to ensure that state law provides
21 consistent and clear rules governing the use of ranked choice voting
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 1 in Washington. The legislature therefore intends for this act to
2 provide baseline definitions and legal requirements for ranked choice
3 voting elections throughout the state.
4 The legislature further intends to create a work group to aid the
5 secretary of state in developing effective rules and implementation
6 materials for local governments that enact ranked choice voting
7 through popular vote, by action of their governing body, or as a
8 remedy under the Washington voting rights act. The work group will
9 also develop high quality voter education standards and support
10 materials to aid in the implementation of ranked choice voting
11 throughout the state.
12 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 29A.52
13 RCW to read as follows:
14 (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this
15 section, a county, city, town, school district, fire district, or
16 port district may conduct its elections using ranked choice voting. A
17 county, city, town, school district, fire district, or port district
18 that adopts ranked choice voting may, but need not, use ranked choice
19 voting for all offices in an election.
20 (2) A city, town, school district, fire district, or port
21 district that has voters in more than one county may conduct an
22 election using ranked choice voting only if:
23 (a) Another city, town, or district that lies entirely within at
24 least two of the counties in which the city, town, or district has
25 voters uses ranked choice voting; or
26 (b) A court orders the use of ranked choice voting as provided in
27 this section as a remedy under RCW 29A.92.110.
28 (3) Ranked choice voting may not be used in an election for an
29 office for which two or fewer candidates are competing.
30 (4) An election using ranked choice voting must meet the
31 following requirements:
32 (a) The county auditor shall design the ballot to allow a voter
33 to rank the candidates for a particular office in order of
34 preference, including one write-in candidate;
35 (b) The county auditor must allow a voter to rank at least five
36 candidates per office. The secretary of state may adopt rules that
37 determine the maximum number of candidates per office that a voter is
38 allowed to rank on a ballot in order to accommodate technical
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 1 limitations from voting systems and ensure compatibility with all
2 ballot formats;
3 (c) A voter does not need to rank the maximum number of
4 candidates. The county auditor shall count a ballot regardless of how
5 many candidates the voter has ranked. The county auditor shall not
6 count votes for rankings made by a voter that are greater than the
7 maximum number of rankings allowed for each office;
8 (d) If a voter skips one or more numbers in ranking candidates,
9 or ranks an invalid write-in candidate, the county auditor shall
10 count any votes after the skipped number for the voter's next-highest
11 ranked candidates as if the voter had not skipped the number;
12 (e) If a voter provides the same number ranking to more than one
13 candidate, the county auditor may not count that vote ranking for any
14 candidate and may not count a vote for any subsequent number ranking
15 for that office;
16 (f) The election must be one of two types of ranked choice voting
17 elections. If the election is a single-winner contest, including an
18 election in which multiple positions with the same name, district
19 number, or title are dealt with as separate offices, the winner of
20 each contest must be determined using the instant runoff voting
21 method, as defined in this section and further provided in secretary
22 of state rules. If the election is a multiwinner contest, such as a
23 primary, the winners must be determined using the single transferable
24 vote method, as defined in this section and further provided in
25 secretary of state rules;
26 (g) If the requisite number of officers have not been elected, or
27 selected to continue to further rounds of vote tabulation, by reason
28 of two or more persons having an equal and highest number of votes
29 for the same office, the official empowered by state law to issue the
30 original certificate of election shall resolve the tie as provided in
31 RCW 29A.60.221.
32 (5) A county, city, town, or district that conducts a general
33 election for a single-winner contest using ranked choice voting must
34 hold a primary using the single transferable vote method to winnow
35 candidates for the election to a final list of five candidates.
36 (6) A county, city, town, or district that adopts ranked choice
37 voting must consult with its county auditor to determine the date
38 when ranked choice voting will be implemented, which must be within
39 two years following its adoption, unless a specific implementation
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 1 date is provided in a court order directing a jurisdiction to use
2 ranked choice voting as a remedy under RCW 29A.92.110.
3 (7) The county auditor whose county encompasses a county, city,
4 town, or district that adopts ranked choice voting is responsible for
5 the implementation of the system. If a city, town, or district has
6 voters in two or more counties, each county auditor in which the
7 city, town, or district has voters is responsible for its
8 implementation.
9 (8) The secretary of state, before May 1, 2025, and in
10 consultation with the ranked choice voting work group created in
11 section 12 of this act, shall adopt rules to administer this section.
12 The secretary's rules must address, at minimum:
13 (a) Procedures for administering an election that includes voters
14 in more than one county as provided in subsection (2) of this
15 section; and
16 (b) Procedures for tabulating votes under the instant runoff
17 voting method and single transferable vote method as provided in
18 subsection (4) of this section.
19 (9) The secretary of state shall develop educational materials
20 for the public and provide training for county auditors to implement
21 ranked choice voting in accordance with the work group
22 recommendations described in section 12 of this act.
23 (10) As used in this section:
24 (a) "Ranked choice voting" means a method of counting votes in
25 which votes are tabulated based on a voter's ranking of candidates in
26 order of preference as provided in this section.
27 (b) "Instant runoff voting method" means a method of counting
28 votes in which ballots are counted in rounds and the candidate
29 receiving the fewest number of votes is eliminated, continuing until
30 one candidate receives a majority of all votes counted in that round
31 and is declared the winner.
32 (c) "Single transferable vote method" means a method of counting
33 votes in which:
34 (i) A winning threshold is calculated based on the number of
35 votes cast and the number of seats to be filled, plus one;
36 (ii) Ballots are counted in rounds, and at the end of each round
37 any candidate who receives enough votes to pass the winning threshold
38 is declared elected. Any votes received by that candidate in excess
39 of the threshold to win are transferred to other candidates. After
40 all such votes have been transferred so that no candidate has votes
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 1 exceeding the winning threshold, the candidate with the least number
2 of votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred to other
3 candidates in the next round; and
4 (iii) The counting process stops when the number of elected
5 candidates equals the number of seats to be filled, or the number of
6 candidates remaining equals the number of seats not yet filled by an
7 elected candidate.
8 (11) This section does not apply to any jurisdiction that, on the
9 effective date of this section, uses ranked choice voting for one or
10 more offices.
11 Sec. 3. RCW 29A.60.221 and 2004 c 271 s 176 are each amended to
12 read as follows:
13 (1) If the requisite number of any federal, state, county, city,
14 or district offices have not been nominated in a primary by reason of
15 two or more persons having an equal and requisite number of votes for
16 being placed on the general election ballot, the official empowered
17 by state law to certify candidates for the general election ballot
18 shall give notice to the several persons so having the equal and
19 requisite number of votes to attend at the appropriate office at the
20 time designated by that official, who shall then and there proceed
21 publicly to decide by lot which of those persons will be declared
22 nominated and placed on the general election ballot.
23 (2) If the requisite number of any federal, state, county, city,
24 district, or precinct officers have not been elected by reason of two
25 or more persons having an equal and highest number of votes for one
26 and the same office, the official empowered by state law to issue the
27 original certificate of election shall give notice to the several
28 persons so having the highest and equal number of votes to attend at
29 the appropriate office at the time to be appointed by that official,
30 who shall then and there proceed publicly to decide by lot which of
31 those persons will be declared duly elected, and the official shall
32 make out and deliver to the person thus duly declared elected a
33 certificate of election.
34 (3) For a tie occurring at any point in the counting process of
35 an election conducted using ranked choice voting as provided in
36 section 2 of this act, the official empowered by state law to certify
37 candidates for the general election ballot shall resolve the tie
38 using the lot method described in this section. If the tie occurs
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 1 before the final round of counting, the tie must be resolved as
2 expeditiously as possible.
3 NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 29A.04
4 RCW to read as follows:
5 "Primary" or "primary election" means a procedure for winnowing
6 candidates for public office to a final list of two as part of a
7 special or general election, or to a final list of five in a county,
8 city, town, or district election that uses ranked choice voting as
9 provided in section 2 of this act. Each voter has the right to cast a
10 vote for any candidate for each office without any limitation based
11 on party preference or affiliation, of either the voter or the
12 candidate.
13 Sec. 5. RCW 29A.36.170 and 2013 c 143 s 1 and 2013 c 11 s 45 are
14 each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
15 For any office for which a primary was held, only the names of
16 the top two candidates will appear on the general election ballot,
17 unless the election will be conducted using ranked choice voting as
18 provided in section 2 of this act, in which case only the names of
19 the top five candidates will appear on the general election ballot;
20 the name of the candidate who received the greatest number of votes
21 will appear first and the candidate who received the next greatest
22 number of votes will appear second. No candidate's name may be
23 printed on the subsequent general election ballot unless he or she
24 receives at least one percent of the total votes cast for that office
25 at the preceding primary, if a primary was conducted. On the ballot
26 at the general election for an office for which no primary was held,
27 the names of the candidates shall be listed in the order determined
28 pursuant to RCW 29A.36.131.
29 Sec. 6. RCW 29A.52.112 and 2014 c 7 s 1 are each amended to read
30 as follows:
31 (1) A primary is a first stage in the public process by which
32 voters elect candidates to public office.
33 (2) Whenever candidates for a partisan office are to be elected,
34 the general election must be preceded by a primary conducted under
35 this chapter.
36 (3) Based upon votes cast at the primary, the top two candidates,
37 or the top five candidates in a primary for a single-winner general
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 1 election conducted using ranked choice voting as provided in section
2 2 of this act, will be certified as qualified to appear on the
3 general election ballot((, unless only one candidate qualifies as
4 provided in RCW 29A.36.170)).
5 (((3))) (4) No primary may be held for any single county partisan
6 office to fill an unexpired term if, after the last day allowed for
7 candidates to withdraw((,)):
8 (a) Only one candidate has filed for the position; or
9 (b) In a primary for a single-winner general election conducted
10 using ranked choice voting as provided in section 2 of this act, five
11 or fewer candidates have filed for the position.
12 (((4))) (5) For partisan office, if a candidate has expressed a
13 party preference on the declaration of candidacy, then that
14 preference will be shown after the name of the candidate on the
15 primary and general election ballots as set forth in rules of the
16 secretary of state. A candidate may choose to express no party
17 preference. Any party preferences are shown for the information of
18 voters only and may in no way limit the options available to voters.
19 Sec. 7. RCW 29A.52.220 and 2013 c 195 s 1 are each amended to
20 read as follows:
21 (1) No primary may be held for any single position in any
22 nonpartisan office if, after the last day allowed for candidates to
23 withdraw, there are no more than two candidates filed for the
24 position, or in a primary for a single-winner general election
25 conducted using ranked choice voting as provided in section 2 of this
26 act, there are no more than five candidates filed for the position.
27 The county auditor shall as soon as possible notify all the
28 candidates so affected that the office for which they filed will not
29 appear on the primary ballot.
30 (2) No primary may be held for the office of commissioner of a
31 park and recreation district or for the office of cemetery district
32 commissioner.
33 (3) Names of candidates for offices that do not appear on the
34 primary ballot shall be printed upon the general election ballot in
35 the manner specified by RCW 29A.36.131.
36 Sec. 8. RCW 36.32.040 and 2018 c 113 s 205 are each amended to
37 read as follows:
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 1 (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this
2 section, the qualified electors of each county commissioner district,
3 and they only, shall nominate from among their own number, candidates
4 for the office of county commissioner of such commissioner district
5 to be voted for at the following general election. Such candidates
6 shall be nominated in the same manner as candidates for other county
7 and district offices are nominated in all other respects.
8 (2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, where
9 the commissioners of a county composed entirely of islands with a
10 population of less than thirty-five thousand have chosen to divide
11 the county into unequal-sized commissioner districts pursuant to the
12 exception provided in RCW 36.32.020, the qualified electors of the
13 entire county shall nominate from among their own number who reside
14 within a commissioner district, candidates for the office of county
15 commissioner of such commissioner district to be voted for at the
16 following general election. Such candidates shall be no