Washington State Republican Party (WAGOP) Chairman and State Representative Jim Walsh’s Election Integrity Citizens Initiative to the 2026 Legislature - IL26-126: AN ACT Relating to requiring verification of citizenship for voter registration, survived a ballot challenge by the Leftist group, OneAmerica, and soon will be ready for petition signature gathering.
One America challenged a portion of the ballot title and argued that the proposed four-word statement of the subject matter – “concerns voter registration requirements” – did not adequately describe the breadth of the impact.
Last Thursday, a Thurston County Superior Court Judge ordered the measure statement be revised to read: “concerns heightened voter registration requirements for applicants and currently registered voters.” OneAmerica officials said this is a clearer statement of what the policy is about. Jim Walsh was happy with the outcome, saying, “The idea polls astronomically well.”
Under the GOP-led measure, there are multiple ways voters would be allowed to prove their citizenship to register to vote, such as: show their enhanced driver’s license or enhanced identicard, a birth certificate, a certificate of naturalization, a U.S. Department of State consular report of birth abroad, or a passport, at a county auditor’s election office when they first register to vote.
Existing voters would need to provide such proof by the November 2027 election, when the changes would take effect.
Walsh says, “This would be a seismic political change. On the current Washington voter registration form, a person marks a box indicating they are a citizen. This says you just can’t check a box. This does not touch mail-in voting in any way. It does not touch the transaction of voting.”
Walsh said the measure is intended to complement an executive order issued by President Trump that, broadly, seeks to make states require individuals to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Walsh said, “Washington State has probably the least secure voting system in the United States. Besides being a 100% mail-in voting state, we have ‘automatic’ voter registration. We essentially have no safeguards in registering to vote, no confirmation that a person registering is, in fact, a citizen, other than an attestation. It’s not just motor voter that's an issue; you are automatically registered to vote when you apply for any state government benefits (SNAP, Medicaid, etc.), and there’s no real confirmation that the person registered to vote is a citizen.”
The initiative will be out for petition signatures soon, and could become law next year for the 2026 Mid-term elections. To be certified, the petitions must contain the signatures of at least 308,911 registered voters and be submitted no later than 5:00 pm on January 2, 2026.
An initiative to the Legislature, if qualified, would first go to lawmakers who could adopt it as written. If they do not act, the measure would then go on the November 2026 ballot. Legislators could also approve an alternative initiative to be placed on the ballot alongside the initiative.
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