House Bill 1710 would add state preclearance to Washington Voting Rights Act; sponsors say it prevents discrimination, critics warn of broad reach

House Bill 1710 would add a preclearance requirement to the Washington Voting Rights Act, requiring jurisdictions designated as “covered” to obtain certification from the attorney general or a declaratory judgment from superior court before implementing certain election-related changes, Representative Charlotte Mena (chair) told the committee.

Staff explained that the bill’s coverage criteria identify jurisdictions by recent enforcement history, demographic thresholds, or measures of racial disparities (including registration and turnout gaps, arrest rates, and poverty rates). Examples in the staff report included: a protected-class population threshold of at least 6,000 citizens of voting age or 15% of the citizen voting-age population; an enrollment/registration or turnout gap of 10 percentage points; a 25-year lookback for certain enforcement…