OLYMPIA, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – New election laws in Washington intended to strengthen the democratic process are going into effect following this year’s short legislative session.

In total, five bills were signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee within the last two weeks targeting elections.

Senate Bill (SB) 5843 requires counties to report cyber-security threats to the Secretary of State and maintain stronger security measures against potential election threats.

House Bill (HB) 1241 makes it a class C felony to harass election workers and allows more victims of this harassment to apply for the state’s Address Confidentiality Program. A similar bill was passed in 2022 but the protections against harassment of election workers only included cyber harassment.

SB 5890 reforms the ballot review and rejection process including standardizing how counties notify voters about signature discrepancies.

HB 1962 maintains accurate voter lists and streamlines the process for voters changing registration when moving county-to-county.

SB 6269 establishes a pilot program for expanding voter identity verification on returned ballots.