Washington state domestic violence survivors can register without providing address

A Washington state program allows victims of crime to register to vote without releasing their addresses to the public.

Survivors of domestic violence could be potentially put into danger if they create public records, like registering to vote or applying for a marriage license, reports said.

The state's Address Confidentiality Program helps survivors keep their new location hidden by providing a substitute address.

Rachel Krinsky, executive director for the advocacy organization LifeWire, says the program routes mail to a single address in Olympia, so "even the city where the survivor resides remains secret."

“What it does is route all mail to a post office box in Olympia, so that even the city where the survivor resides remains secret. There are some hassles involved. You can’t get packages, you can’t get magazines but it is a way to still correspond with the outside world and to vote,” Krinsky she told Q 13 Fox.

She says there are "hassles involved," but it allows a person to "still correspond with the outside world and to vote."

The Associated Press contributed to this report