The count goes on.  Washington election workers have now checked over 58,000 Referendum 71 signatures, with a rejection rate now up to about 11 percent.  Almost 8,000 new signatures were added Friday evening to the tally reported by master checkers a day earlier.

The new total is 58,493 checked from several hundred volumes. (A volume is a bound batch of 15 petition sheets, each with between 1 and 20 signatures.) That total includes 51,645 signatures accepted and 6,378 rejected — 5,502 because they weren’t found in the statewide voter registration database,  30 with signature images pending from the voter’s home county, 501 where the petition signature doesn’t match the one on file, and 345 duplicates.

The error rate is running 10.99 percent.

The full spread sheet showing the latest breakout — check volumes 221 and beyond — is available here .

R-71 sponsors, a group called Protect Marriage Washington, wants to overturn a newly adopted “everything but marriage” law that gives marriage-like rights under state laws to couples who are registered with the Secretary of State’s domestic partner registry.  The measure is on hold while the referendum question is pending.

Sponsors submitted 137,689 signatures on July 25, and need 120,577 Washington voter signatures to be validated by the state Elections Division in order to win a place on the statewide November 3 ballot.