Browsed by
Tag: domestic partnerships

R-71 update: signature requests pending

R-71 update: signature requests pending

As Archives workers wrap up their microfilming of over 9,000 Referendum 71 petitions, public records requests are pending –and it could well lead to online posting of everyone who signed the petitions. Archives will wrap-up their “imaging” of the petitions Wednesday and the Elections Division crew will count the raw number of signatures submitted by Protect Marriage Washington, and then begin checking the signatures against voter registration records. The R-71 group hopes to force a statewide vote in November on…

Read More Read More

5 Questions with the Assistant Director of Elections

5 Questions with the Assistant Director of Elections

Shane Hamlin, assistant director for the agency’s Elections Division, fills you in on what’s next for Referendum 71 – and what needs to happen for it to get on the Nov. ballot. Q.) Today sponsors of R-71 turned in enough petition sheets for Elections to begin the process of counting signatures. What happens now? The petition sheets will be secured in a vault at the State Archives, and at the start of the weekday, Archives staff will begin microfilming the…

Read More Read More

2 hours, 24 minutes, 47 seconds

2 hours, 24 minutes, 47 seconds

Way to go Heath! Our executive intern has come up with how long it takes to read the R-71 petition sheet:  2 hours, 24 minutes and 47 seconds. RECAP: 10:00: Heath begins reading, on the dot. 10:05: He hits a list of solid numbers. “I keep getting lost.” 10:12: “I started using the magnifying glass, but put it down because my arm got tired,” Heath says. 10:18: Heath’s face is about 5 inches away from the paper. 10:20: Done with the first…

Read More Read More

How long does it take to read the R-71 petition?

How long does it take to read the R-71 petition?

Everyone keeps assuming that no one will bother to take the time to read the 114-pages-of-legislation-jammed-onto-a-mapsized-sheet petition that is R-71 before offering up (or declining to give) their signature. But what if someone actually did want to read it? How long would it even take? Meet Heath. He is the OSOS executive intern and a seriously good sport: An aspiring lawyer, Heath describes himself as a “medium-to-fast” reader. Heath will begin reading the entire R-71 petition form as it appears to the public in…

Read More Read More

Re: R-71: How large are we talking?

Re: R-71: How large are we talking?

We’ve had lots of questions about the R-71 petitions, which by law are required to include 114-pages of Senate Bill 5688 text with the petition on just one sheet of paper. Just how did sponsors manage that one?  Dave channels Vanna White to show you the dimensions of the much talked-about petition sheets: (The front of the petition sheet, unfolded) (The back of the petition sheet, unfolded)

Re: R-71 petitions: Super-size it!

Re: R-71 petitions: Super-size it!

Remember those old references to the “bed sheet” ballot in crowded election years  gone by?  Sponsors of Referendum 71 can’t quite top that, but they are packing around petitions that are map-sized, nearly 2 feet  by 3 feet when they’re opened. A little-noticed provision of state law says that petitions for any referendum must print IN FULL every single word of the legislation being submitted to the voters for an up-or-down vote. In the case of Senate Bill 5688, the “everything but…

Read More Read More

UPDATE: Gregoire signs domestic partner law; challenge afoot

UPDATE: Gregoire signs domestic partner law; challenge afoot

A ballot challenge is afoot to Washington’s new “everything but marriage” domestic partnership expansion.  Just hours after Governor Gregoire signed Senate Bill 5688 in Seattle, the Attorney General released the paperwork necessary for foes to begin their work to secure a November vote on the measure.  The Attorney General had been waiting for the governor to take action — she could sign it, veto it entirely or veto sections.  Jay Geck, deputy solicitor general, sent Secretary of State Reed a ballot title…

Read More Read More

UPDATE: Domestic partnership referendum

UPDATE: Domestic partnership referendum

Foes of the “everything-but-marriage” bill will have to wait until Governor Gregoire acts on the measure, Senate Bill 5688, next week to resume work on their ballot challenge. The Attorney General’s Office notified the Secretary of State’s Office today that they won’t issue the ballot title and summary “unless and until” the governor approves the bill “exactly as it passed the Legislature.”  Gregoire is expected to sign the bill in Seattle next Monday.  Referendum 71 was accepted by the state Elections…

Read More Read More

Domestic partnership foes file referendum

Domestic partnership foes file referendum

Opponents of Washington’s new “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law are hoping to force a statewide public vote on the issue this fall. Larry Stickney, Arlington, president of Washington Values Alliance (Web site here), filed a referendum at the state Elections Division in Oly on Monday.  Sponsors will have until July 25 to gather 120,577 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November 3 statewide ballot. Referendum 71 would allow voters to uphold the new law, Senate Bill 5688, or to reject it. Governor…

Read More Read More

You have referendum questions? We have answers…

You have referendum questions? We have answers…

Early this afternoon, Referendum 71 was filed on the domestic partnership bill (SB 5688) passed this year by the state Legislature. This is the second referendum filed with the Secretary of State in the past week. R-70 deals with SB 5599, which would require our state’s electoral votes to go to the national popular vote winner in a presidential election. Since the referendum process is complex, it’s likely many people might have questions about it. Here is a Q&A document that covers…

Read More Read More