About Us

Washington's Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) is designed to help people who fear for their safety maintain a confidential address. Passed by legislature in 1991, ACP is used as part of an overall safety plan to prevent perpetrators from locating participants through public records such as driver licenses, voter registries and marriage records.

Washington's ACP is available to state residents who are targets of stalking, domestic violence, trafficking or sexual assault. In 2011, the program expanded to include criminal justice employees who have been threatened or harassed because of their work and expanded once more in 2022 to include state elections officials. Currently, the ACP serves more than 5,000 residents.

Washington's ACP was the first program of its kind in the nation. Today some 40 states and territories have established similar programs.

What We Do

When someone enrolls in the ACP, they are assigned a P.O. Box address that they can use as their legal home, work or school address. State, county and city government agencies are legally required to accept the substitute address.

The ACP accepts all First Class, registered, certified and election mail on behalf of participants, then forwards mail to the participants actual address.

The program also provides confidentiality for two normally public records: voter registration and marriage records. ACP participants may register to vote as Protected Records Voters (PRV's) and apply for Protected Records Marriage (PRM) licensing, which means no record is made available to the public. If the participant uses the program correctly, the participants’ actual physical address may remain out of public records and unavailable to their perpetrator(s).

Limitations

• Federal government and private businesses are not required to accept the ACP address.
• ACP cannot redact already public personal information
• Actual residential address may still be required to: purchase a home, apply for a line of credit, set up utilities, purchase a firearm, etc.

Rules and Statutes