Judge rejects referendum 71 challenge
- by Joe Mirabella, September 8, 8:13 PM Seattle LGBT Issues Examiner
Judge Thomas McPhee ruled against Washington Families Standing Together today, claiming, “when a legal voter has signed a petition, his vote must be counted even though the person soliciting the signature has violated the law.” (See video right.) However the voters in question were not registered to vote at the time they signed the petition or within the five day period required by law according to court papers filed by Washington Families Standing Together. The judge ruled that this law did not matter either, all that mattered was that a voter was registered to vote by the election. This in direct contradiction to the Washington State Constitution which explicitly says a voter must be registered to vote when they sign a petition.
The quirkiness of this trial does not end there. This morning the Secretary of State adjusted the referendum signature count by shaving off approximately 200 signatures off the initial total that was used when the Secretary certified the results last Wednesday. These signatures were removed after an audit determined that they were not valid signatures. The Secretary did not present this audit or the resulting change in the signature count in court this morning. From the Seattle Times:
Reed certified R-71 for the November ballot last week. Election officials revised the number of accepted signatures downward Tuesday, after an audit showed some signatures had been incorrectly accepted.
The latest official tally of accepted petition signatures for R-71 was 121,780 – about 1,200 more than the minimum required to qualify for the ballot.
The Secretary of State has yet to explain the adjustment or why it was done after the legally binding certification. The move will undoubtedly cast further suspicion on the process.
Once the final ruling is issued by Judge Thomas McPhee, Washington Families Standing Together has 5 days to appeal the case to the Washington State Supreme Court. It is unclear whether there will be an appeal. “We would only appeal if we could do so swiftly, and if we determine that’s the most helpful way to support these families who are under attack by these groups right now,” said Anne Levinson, Chairwoman of Washington Families Standing Together.
The families Levinson is referring to are 5928 same sex partners and senior citizen families who have registered as domestic partners as of today. Voters must approve referendum 71 to preserve the domestic partnership law.
