Voter registration bill stalls in Senate committee

A bill that earlier this month passed through the House of the Washington state Legislature that would automatically register qualified voters is now languishing in a Senate committee and will likely never be presented to the floor for a full vote.

Just like its Senate companion bill, House Bill 2682's fate is currently in the hands of the Senate Government Operations and Security Committee, which is controlled and chaired by Republicans. SB 6379 failed to receive sufficient signatures in the committee and is dead, which is the likely outcome for HB 2682.

Both bills would have automatically registered Washington residents who weren't already on voter rolls but who have applied for or already have an enhanced driver's license or commercial driver's license. Those receiving social services that verify citizenship or who get health insurance through the state health exchange also would have been automatically registered.

Ninth Legislative District Reps. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, and Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, both said they voted against the House version of the bill because they fear it could lead to voter fraud.

The bill would consider the Department of Licensing, the health benefit exchange, or an office providing public assistance and services to people with disabilities as "qualified voter registration agenc(ies)," as long as they collect, store and process information such as names, addresses, dates of birth and citizenship information verified by data from the Social Security Administration.

That's where Dye and Schmick said they have their issues with the bill.

Schmick said his concern is how citizenship will be verified through documentation from the Social Security Administration. Schmick said he believes documentation could be faked and that noncitizens would be able to cast their votes illegally. He said anyone can walk down any street and buy a handful of fake Social Security cards.

"In order to ensure we have fair and accurate legal voting, we have to have an idea of citizenship," Schmick said. "If you can verify citizenship, I don't have a problem."

Dye said she specifically has a problem with the part of the bill that would register voters based on information from the Department of Social and Health Services. She said she wasn't sure the documentation required by DSHS adequately proves citizenship, and she couldn't vote yes on the bill because of the fact the enhanced driver's license and CDL may require different documentation.

To increase transparency and ensure citizenship, Dye said she would like birth certificates to be required by all those qualified voter registration agencies, like DSHS.

"Every person that would fraudulently submit a ballot would disenfranchise other legal voters," she said.

Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, the prime sponsor of the House bill, said Republicans are hesitant to pass the legislation because they fear it will likely result in more Democrats being registered to vote.

He said the programs that would be referenced to automatically register voters require proof of citizenship, and similar bills increased voter participation in places like Oregon and California.

Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said he had interest in the Senate bill, but it was "an idea that ran out of time."

Schoesler said he may have voted for the Senate bill had it made it to the floor, since it could have verified citizenship and increased voter registration and participation. He was unable to be reached for comment on HB 2682.

Josh Babcock can be reached at (208) 883-4630, or by email to jbabcock@dnews.com.