Washington state’s Referendum-71: Fake signature count turns anti-gay petition into nail-biter
”The error rate was the highest of any seen during the first three days of scrutiny.”
Dave Ammons, a spokesman for election officials in Washington state, referring to the latest tally in the ongoing process of signature verification for Referendum 71. Washington’s governor recently signed a domestic partnerships law that extends certain benefits to same-sex couples. Almost immediately a group began gathering signatures to overturn the measure which is being called the ”everything but marriage law.” It is reported that the foes of the law succeeded in turning in 137,689 signatures from alleged voters who are asking for a public referendum for a new law that would overturn the recently gained domestic partner benefits. Approximately 14% of those signatures need to be thrown out to invalidate the petition, and the latest official word is that more than 12% overall have been thrown out due to duplicates, non-voters, and signatures that do not match. (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
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