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Laws governing ballot measures in Washington
From Ballotpedia
This page provides an overview of resources addressing the laws and procedures that govern statewide and local ballot measures in Washington, including the initiative and referendum process, constitutional amendments, signature requirements, recall procedures, and campaign finance regulations.
Explore the links below for more information:
- Types of ballot measures in Washington
- Laws governing the initiative process in Washington
- Amending the Washington Constitution
- Laws governing local ballot measures in Washington
- Signature requirements for ballot measures in Washington
- Laws governing recall in Washington
- Laws governing state constitutional conventions in Washington
- Campaign finance requirements for Washington ballot measures
- Changes to laws governing ballot measures in Washington
Laws governing ballot measures in Washington
Types of ballot measures in Washington
- Washington has three types of citizen-initiated ballot measures: initiated state statutes (Initiative to the People), indirect initiated state statutes (Initiative to the Legislature), and veto referendums.
- In Washington, the legislature can refer constitutional amendments, state statutes, bond measures, and constitutional convention questions to the ballot.
Laws governing the initiative process in Washington
- In Washington, citizens have the power to initiate constitutional amendments, state statutes (direct and indirect), and veto referendums. These powers were established with voter approval of a constitutional amendment in 1912.
Amending the Washington Constitution
- Washington became a state in 1889. The current state constitution was ratified in 1889.
- The Washington Constitution can be amended in two ways:
- Legislatively referred constitutional amendment: The state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot, with a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber.
- Convention-referred constitutional amendment: A state constitutional convention can vote to refer constitutional changes to the ballot.
- A simple majority vote (50% plus 1) is required for voters to approve constitutional amendments.
Laws governing local ballot measures in Washington
- The availability of initiative varies depending on the classification, form of government, and home rule status of a town, city, or county.
- General law counties do not have initiative authority, except to petition to adopt a charter. The six home rule charter counties do have authority, and all six have adopted an initiative process.
- First class charter cities have a mandated initiative process for charter amendments.
- Second class cities and towns do not have authority to adopt initiative.
- Code cities have authority to permit initiative. If a code city exercises that authority, the initiative process is set by state statute.
Signature requirements for ballot measures in Washington
- In Washington, the number of signatures required for citizen initiatives is based on the total number of votes cast for the office of governor during the last regular gubernatorial election.
- Initiatives to the People require signatures equal to 8% of the votes cast.
- Initiatives to the Legislature require signatures equal to 8% of the votes cast.
- Veto referendums require signatures equal to 4% of the votes cast.
- The signature requirement for Initiatives of the Legislature lags behind by one year. For example, based on the gubernatorial election of 2020, the signature requirement for Initiatives to the People and veto referendums changed for 2021, while the requirements for Initiatives to the Legislature remained unchanged until 2022.
Laws governing recall in Washington
- In Washington, citizens are granted the authority to perform a recall election by Sections 33 and 34 of Article I of the Washington State Constitution to all elective officers of the state of Washington except judges of courts of record.
Laws governing state constitutional conventions in Washington
- According to Article XXIII of the Washington State Constitution, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Washington State Legislature to place a constitutional convention question on the ballot.
- A simple majority is required for voters to approve the question.
Campaign finance requirements for Washington ballot measures
- PACs that support or oppose ballot measures in Washington must register and report campaign finance.
Changes to laws governing ballot measures in Washington
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
- Senate Bill 5370: The bill created a process for port districts to increase the terms of their port commissioners from four years to six years. The bill offers two ways for the term length to increase. The first is for port commissioners to pass a resolution and put the measure on the ballot; the second is by submission of a petition signed by 10% of voters that voted in the last election. In the event that the measure is on the ballot, a simple majority vote is required for the measure to pass and for the terms of port commissioners to increase.[1]
| SB 5370 Vote | Senate | House | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | NV | Yes | No | NV | |
| Total | 48 | 0 | 0 | 88 | 9 | 1 |
| Democratic (D) | 29 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 0 | 0 |
| Republican (R) | 19 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 9 | 1 |
See also
Footnotes
