I strongly support SB 5382 - Integrity of the Initiative process.

I strongly support SB 5382. Please ensure this bill passes out of the Ways & Means Committee. Right now, Washington does not require petition signatures to include a valid voter registration address—meaning that a signature can be counted even if there’s no way to confirm whether the person is an eligible Washington voter. That’s a major gap in our process, and SB 5382 fixes it with a simple, common-sense update. Many states have recognized that ensuring signatures come from real, registered voters is essential to the integrity of the initiative process. California, Ohio, and Utah all require petition signatures to be matched to a voter’s registration address. These states not only check addresses but also require signers to provide additional identifying information to prevent fraud. In many states, a signature without a valid voter registration address isn’t counted—because election officials can’t confirm the signer is eligible. Why Address Verification Matters in Washington Our state allows petitions to qualify for the ballot with hundreds of thousands of signatures—we should be making sure those signatures are real and from eligible voters. Without address verification, someone could sign multiple times under slightly different names, and there’s no reliable way to detect it. Other states already use basic address checks as a safeguard—Washington should do the same. SB 5382 Improves the Process by: Requires petition signatures to include a voter registration address, ensuring they match an actual Washington voter. Brings Washington in line with best practices already used in other states to protect the integrity of ballot measures. Strengthens confidence in our initiative process by ensuring every signature counted belongs to an eligible voter.