We know the anti-gay forces in Maine have placed a measure on the November ballot to repeal the state's new same-sex marriage law. Soon, we'll know if there will be an election in Washington, too. Referendum 71 would let voters decide whether to approve or reject the state's domestic partnership expansion law, which guaranteed all the rights of marriage to same-sex couples.
In Washington, the Secretary of State is in the process of validating signatures, which were submitted last week. From the Slog:
Election workers have recorded a lower percentage of valid signatures for anti-gay Referendum 71 today than two previous days of counting, says secretary of state’s office spokesman David Ammons. “Today’s batch had an error rate of 14.4 percent so that is the highest we’ve seen to date,” he says. Elections workers checked 5,815 signatures and found 4,980 were valid. Most of the invalid signatures were disqualified because the signer's name did not appear on state voter rolls.The anti-gay side submitted 137,689 signatures, of which 120,577 must be valid. The rejection rate matters.
Ammons says that, according to election workers, the petition needs an invalid rate of 14 percent or less to qualify. “I asked my people again, 'Are we doing the math right"' and they said they believe we are,” he says.
Washington Families Standing Together is the campaign set up to get voters to approve the new domestic partnership law, if, and it's still an if, there are enough signatures.
