With both sides of the issue watching them like hawks, the signature checkers for Referendum 71 continue to work diligently and carefully through the pile of petitions. That is especially the case when it comes check the signatures of signers with ethnic names.
The Elections Division’s signature checkers have reviewed just over 9,000 new Referendum 71 signatures . The cumulative signature check total is now more than 97,000, almost two-thirds of the total submitted in late July. Nearly 86,000 signatures have been accepted and almost 11,400 rejected for one reason or another. The signature error rate has dropped from yesterday’s 11.97 percent to the current rate of 11.68 percent.
Signature checkers for the state Elections Division have scrutinized almost 9,000 new Referendum 71 signatures, bringing the cumulative check total to over 88,000.
Over 77,000 signatures have been accepted and more than 10,000 rejected on various grounds, bringing the error rate so far to just under 12 percent.
Referendum 71 sponsors now have nearly 70,000 signatures in their column, but still need another 50k to qualify for the Nov. 3 statewide ballot. The measure is sponsored by foes of the state's newly adopted "everything but marriage" law that gives state-registered domestic partners the same state rights and responsibilities as married couples.
Sponsors of Referendum 71, the effort to overturn Washington's new "everything but marriage" domestic partnership law, are accusing the state Elections Division of rushing the signature-verification process and being biased against their effort. Election officials at the Secretary of State's office are pushing back, strongly defending their crew of signature-checkers as conducting the process with great care and diligence, not rushing through – and certainly not showing bias one way or the other about the legislation in question.
The signature count for Referendum 71 surged to well over the half-way mark Tuesday, with 72,976 signatures now processed – and a cumulative error rate edging upward to 11.32 percent.
