A lawsuit has been filed in King County Superior Court by Washington Families Standing Together requesting a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the Secretary of State from certifying Referendum 71 to the ballot.  The Secretary of State is the defendant in the lawsuit.

The Attorney General’s Office and Deputy Solicitor General Jeff Even will represent the Secretary of State in the lawsuit.

The attorneys are scheduling hearings for early next week in King County Superior Court.  The case has been assigned to King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector.

Copies of the plaintiffs’ litigation documents are available here .

The R-71 signature check is almost finished. State Elections Director Nick Handy announced Wednesday that the Elections Division expects to have the signature check completed by September 1 and to be in a position at that time to either certify or reject the petition based upon the results of the signature check.  The law requires 120,577 valid Washington voter signatures for the referendum to be placed on the November statewide ballot.

The lawsuit plaintiffs support Senate Bill 5688, the “everything but marriage” law that was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gregoire this year. The measure expands state rights and responsibilities to state-registered domestic partners so that they equal those granted to married couples.