Senate passes ballot check-box bill

OLYMPIA – In the last primary election, more than 100,000 Washington voters were disenfranchised because of their failure to check the box indicating party affiliation. The Senate today passed legislation to prevent that from happening again.

“We all want our vote to count,” said Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park. “If you vote a straight ticket and forget to check the box, your vote should still matter.”

Senate Bill 5408, sponsored by Fairley, would ensure that a ballot will be counted when a voter votes only for candidates of one political party in partisan races but fails to select a party in the ballot’s check-off box.

“It’s just common sense,” Fairley said. “If we want to encourage people to take part in the election process then we should be making it easier, not harder.”

SB 5408 was approved unanimously and now moves to the House of Representatives.

Return to Sen. Fairley's home page