By Emma Epperly
WNPA Olympia News Bureau
OLYMPIA — A proposed bill would allow the residential address portion of a voter registration form to be filled out with a nontraditional address.
Democrat majority caucus chair, Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, pre-filed Senate Bill 5079, titled the Native American Voting Rights Act, last week.
“The Washington state Legislature has a chance to rectify historical wrongs with the passage of the Native American Voting Rights Act,” McCoy said.
“In doing so, we will send a loud and simple message to the Native community: We recognize that civic participation as we know it today began with American Indians, and as sovereign citizens of the United States you have the right to have your voice heard at every level of government.”
A nontraditional address consists of a narrative description of the location of the individual’s residence, according to the bill.
The bill modifies the minimum information required for voter registration under state law, to allow for “unmarked homes” and “a nontraditional residential address may be used when a voter resides on an Indian reservation or on Indian lands.”
The pre-filed bill also allows for voters to list a building designated by the tribe in their precinct as their residential address if need be.
McCoy is a Tulalip Tribe member and has served as chairman of the executive committee of the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators.
“Now, more than ever, we must reassure the American people that their government works for them — regardless of their appearance, ethnic origins or history, or any other discriminatory artifices,” McCoy said.
McCoy sponsored SB 5028 during the last legislative session which requires teacher preparation programs to integrate Native American curriculum.
The bill passed and became effective June 7.
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This story is part of a series of news reports from the Washington State Legislature provided through a reporting internship sponsored by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation.
