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Initiative 884 qualifies for 2004 General Ballot |
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News Release
Issued: August 02, 2004
OLYMPIA -- Secretary of State Sam Reed announced today that Initiative I-884 has sufficient valid signatures to qualify for a spot on the statewide ballot in November.
According to election workers, a check of petition signatures submitted in support of the proposal has shown that the measure meets constitutional requirements for a minimum of 197,734 valid voter signatures. The measure will appear on the 2004 General Election Ballot.
The official ballot summary on Initiative 884 reads, “This measure would create a fund designated for preschool through college education by increasing the retail sales tax rate by 1%. The fund would support preschool assistance for low-income children; additional K-12 programs selected by school districts with citizen input; additional higher education enrollments, scholarships and research; and salary increases for certain teachers and other employees of the school districts and community and technical college districts. A citizen oversight board is established and audits performed.”
Sponsors of I-884 submitted a total of 321,932 petition signatures to the Secretary of State. Election workers determined that the petition contained 249,948 valid signatures – 52,214 more than the required minimum. Signatures are invalid if the signer is not a registered voter or if he or she signed more than once.
The petition was checked using the "random sample" process authorized by state law. Under the process, a statistically valid percentage of the signatures are selected at random and checked against voter registration records. A mathematical formula is then applied to the results to obtain a projected rate of invalidation.
Election officials examined 7,678 signatures (a 2.0 percent sample) on I-884. From that inspection, it was determined that the measure had an invalidation rate 22.36 percent.
