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Bill would expand electioneering ban to county elections buildings and adjacent parking lots after repeated incidents in King County
Summary
Senate Bill 5684 would extend the state’s electioneering prohibitions to include county elections buildings, adjacent parking lots routinely used for parking and access routes between them; King County Elections and the bill sponsor said the change closes a gap that has allowed campaign RVs and signs to be placed outside the current buffer zones.
Senate Bill 5684, heard Feb. 11 by the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee, would expand the locations where electioneering and efforts to influence voters are prohibited during the 18 days preceding an election and through election day.
Under current law staff described at the hearing, electioneering is a gross misdemeanor if done within 100 feet of a vote center or student engagement hub and within 25 feet of a ballot drop box. Committee staff said the bill expands those prohibited locations to include "the building that contains the division of elections for a county auditor's office, including any parking lot adjacent to the building and routinely used for parking at that building and any routes of access between the building and any parking lot."
Sponsor Senator Claudia Kaufman said the change is a "very simple, very common sense fix" meant to ensure voters can access election offices "without pressure or interference." King County Director of Elections Julie Wise testified in support, describing repeated incidents in which campaign trailers or RVs parked in the back third of the county-owned Elections parking lot — an area that extends beyond 100 feet from the facility door — and placed large signs and campaign materials visible to voters coming and going.
Committee members raised constitutional and practical questions. Staff and counsel noted courts would examine First Amendment implications and whether a parking lot is a public forum; staff cited a Ninth Circuit case striking a 300-foot restriction on exit pollers in past precedent and said the forum and tailoring analysis would be for a court to decide. Members asked how the bill would apply when the county-owned parking lot is shared with private businesses, how to treat routine non-election activities at sites (for example, fire stations that host community services), and whether signs on private buildings would be covered. King County Elections told the committee the parking lot at its Renton facility is county-owned and has recurring incidents — multiple campaigns and different individuals have used the back lot repeatedly, staff said.
Julie Wise said King County has posted signs showing existing distances (100 feet or 25 feet as applicable) but an RV used in recent incidents was outside the existing 100-foot protected zone. She said the county's attorneys advised that, because part of the parking lot sits outside current statutory distances, the county could not prohibit parking the RV under existing law. In the hearing record, staff reported 231 written respondents (226 pro, 5 con).
No committee action was recorded on Feb. 11. Committee members indicated interest in clarifying statutory language and how the bill would apply to mixed-use parking lots and private property; staff and future witnesses were expected to help address those details in follow-up.
