Washington Secretary of State

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The Washington Secretary of State is an executive branch office in Washington. The office is charged with overseeing certain aspects of the state's election process, including voter registration and election results reporting. The secretary of state in Washington is charged with overseeing key parts of the state's ballot initiative process.

The current officeholder in the position is Sam Reed.

Duties

Some of the secretary of state's duties include:

  • Supervising state and local elections, and certifying the results of state primaries and general elections.
  • Filing and verifying initiatives and referendums.
  • Producing and distributing the state voters pamphlet and election-notice legal advertising.
  • Registering and licensing private corporations, limited partnerships and trademarks.
  • Registering individuals, organizations and commercial fundraisers involved in charitable solicitations.
  • Administering the state's Address Confidentiality Program for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.
  • Collecting and preserving the historical records of the state, and making those records available for research.
  • Coordinating implementation of the state's records management laws.
  • Serving as chairman of the state Productivity Board.
  • Affixing the State Seal and attesting to commissions, pardons, and other documents to which the signature of the Governor is required.
  • Regulating use of the State Seal.
  • Filing or attesting to official acts of the legislature and governor.
  • Certifying to the legislature all matters legally required to be certified.

Role in the initiative process

Filing an initiative

When filing an initiative with the secretary of state, it is first sent to the Code Reviser to be reviewed for technical errors and style, potential conflicts with current statutes, and returned to the initiative's sponsor with recommended changes.

The sponsor then has 15 days to re-submit the proposal to the Secretary of State, accompanied with the Code Reviser's review and initialed approval of any changes to the initiative. The Secretary of State will then assign a serial number to the proposal and forward the initiative to the state attorney general's office.

When the attorney general has approved the initiative the secretary of state is in charge of notifying the sponsor by telephone and mail of the wording of the ballot title. This can be contested in the Thurston County Superior Court within 5 working days of the notification.

The Secretary of State then will approve that the petition format meets statutory requirements and the sponsor is allowed to begin circulating the initiative.

Submitting signatures

It is customary to notify the secretary of state two to three days in advance before submitting signatures in order to enable sufficient staff is available.

  • Petitions should be unfolded and in bundles of 50
  • While petitions may be filed before deadline, the initial filing must contain the minimum signature requirement
  • The secretary of state may reject any petition that is not in the proper form

Filing deadlines

  • A citizen sponsored initiative is due 4 months before the the general election
  • A initiative to the Legislature must be filed 10 days before a regular session of the Legislature convenes
  • A referendum measure can be submitted no later than 90 days after the adjournment of the legislative session in which the act was passed

All of these are due in the secretary of state's office by 5:00 p.m.

Validating signatures

The secretary of state is also in charge of the verification of signatures. If there is a large excess of signatures submitted, the secretary of state will use random sampling. If the random sampling indicates that the number of valid signatures is equal or in excess of the signature requirement, the initiative is certified for the ballot.

If a random sampling indicates the number of invalid signatures might be sufficiently high to overall invalidate the petition, then each signature is scrutinized by the office.

  • Proponents and opponents may have designated representatives present at the checking of signatures. The secretary of state may establish codes of conduct at this time.

If the initiative meets signature requirements than it will be validated and its title and serial number will be forwarded to the Washington for ballot placement.

Controversy over Initiative 1029

In 2008, SEIU submitted signatures on an initiative petition, Initiative 1029, to Sam Reed, the Washington Secretary of State. At some point, it was discovered that SEIU had mislabeled the petition forms. Intending to circulate the initiative as an Initiative to the People, they had instead printed on the petition that it was an Initiative to the Legislature. Reed indicated that he would accept the petitions as an initiative to the people (rather than the legislature) despite what it said on the petition.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorialized against this, saying:

"Could Secretary of State Sam Reed still change his mind about accepting egregiously mislabeled initiative petitions? We'd like to think the steady, veteran public leader could summon the political fortitude to reverse his decision to ignore a powerful labor union's flagrant carelessness on an issue that's supposedly so important it must be brought to voters in November."[1]

Contact information

Physical Address:
Legislative Building
Olympia, WA

Mailing Address:
PO Box 40220
OLYMPIA WA 98504-0220

Phone: 360-902-4151
Email: mail@secstate.wa.gov

See also

External links

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Current Secretaries of State
   
Secretary of State elections, 2010
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