Moving House and Voter Registration
When I move house, is my voter registration automatically updated or cancelled?
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No. The only way the Elections Office knows you’ve left your home address and where you’ve gone to is if you tell them.
What if I moved house within the same county or town/city and kept my same mailing address? Do I need to tell the Elections Office?
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Always directly tell the Elections Office if you’ve moved house. Even moving across the street could put you in a different School District, Fire District, Legislative District, etc. You vote for the contests and levies applicable where you live, not where you collect your mail. Fill out the Registration Form with your NEW address and your OLD address and submit it to the Elections Office. They will update you, so you get the correct contests and levies on your ballot.
The Registration Form can be found here
What happens if I move house, and I don’t tell the Elections Office?
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Ballots will still get mailed in your name. Those ballots might make their way to you or they might not.
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You might eventually get moved to ‘Inactive’ status or you might not.
When I move house, what should I do?
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Always directly tell the Elections Office you’ve moved house.
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If you’ve moved house within Washington state – even within the same county or city/town – fill out the Registration Form with your NEW address and your OLD address and submit it to the Elections Office in the county of your OLD address. They will update you, so you get the correct contests and levies on your ballot.
The Registration Form can be found here
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If you’ve moved to another state, fill out the Cancellation Form with the WA address you’re leaving and submit it to the Elections Office in the county you’re leaving. They will cancel you. When you register in your new state, be sure to give them the WA address you left as a fail-safe.
The Cancellation Form can be found here
When I update my home address on my driver’s license, doesn’t that automatically properly update my voter home address?
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Maybe. But don’t count on it. DOL may not pass an update through to your Elections Office.
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If DOL does pass an update through, the Elections Office can maintain multiple addresses for a single voter: ‘Residence’ address, ‘Mailing’ address, ‘Seasonal’ address, ‘Temporary’ address. Rather than your driver’s license home address update replacing your voting ‘Residence’ address, it can get added as a voting ‘Mailing’ address. So, you’ll get a ballot, but it might not have your correct contests and levies.
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Always directly tell the Elections Office if you’ve moved house to ensure you get the correct ballot. Even just moving across the street could put you in a different School District, Fire District, Legislative District, etc. You should only vote for the candidates and levies applicable to where you live, not where you collect your mail. Fill out the Registration Form with your NEW address and your OLD address and submit it to the Elections Office in the county of your OLD address. They will update you, so you get the correct contests and levies on your ballot.
The Registration Form can be found here