Sen. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick/Credit: Washington State Senate
OLYMPIA… The state Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed legislation from Sen. Matt Boehnke that is intended to improve the security of Washington’s electoral process.
Senate Bill 5014 would strengthen election security by expanding the Secretary of State’s oversight of equipment and platforms used in elections. It also would require election officials to disclose security breaches and set cybersecurity requirements for county election officers.
“These changes are crucial to ensuring the integrity and trustworthiness of our electoral process,” said Boehnke. “As we conduct elections entirely by mail-in ballots, safeguarding every step—from voter registration to ballot counting—is essential to maintain public confidence and uphold democratic principles.”
The 49-0 vote moves his bill to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
Washington has several election-security policies already in place, such as voter-verification laws that require election staff to undergo signature-verification training from the Washington State Patrol; equipment-certification standards that require ballot tallying equipment to be certified by an independent testing lab; and post-election audits that compare manual counts with machine results.
“This is a good bipartisan bill that shows a strong collaborative effort. It’s about giving counties more resources and adding a layer of oversight at the state level to help combat threats and ensure the accuracy of local and state elections,” Boehnke said.
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