Elections

State election workers have now checked over 35,000 Referendum 71 signatures, including 5,926 during the Friday day-shift. The daily rejection rate was 12.91 percent, which was higher than the newly revised cumulative error rate. R-71 backers, hoping to force a public vote this fall on the state's new "everything but marriage" domestic partnership law, need 120,577 valid signatures to earn a ballot spot. They submitted 137,689, and Friday was the sixth day of checking by election crews.

State election officials continue posting fresh numbers in their closely watched check of signatures for Referendum 71, with the latest complete numbers for Thursday now showing 6,483 checked and 935 rejected, for a cumulative daily error rate of 14.42 percent. The previously announced rejection rate for the day-shift check was running a bit higher, almost 15 percent. Thursday was the first day the Elections Division used two shifts of checkers. At the new rate, the verification process could be completed in another week to 10 days.

Referendum checkers, beefing up their efforts to determine whether R-71 gets a place on the statewide ballot, have processed another 3,831 signatures, bringing the total to over 27,000 checked so far. The latest daily count reflected an rejection rate approaching 15 percent. The state Election Division crew rejected 573 signatures, mostly because the signers weren't registered Washington voters, for a daily error rate of 14.96 percent.

State Election workers processed another 6,140 petition signatures for Referendum 71 Wednesday, the attempt by Protect Marriage Washington to secure a statewide vote this fall on the "everything but marriage" law expanding rights and responsibilities for state-registered domestic partners. Checkers rejected 872 signatures for various reasons, for a daily error rate of 14.2 percent. By the numbers: The error rate was similar to the 14.4 percent the previous day.

Election officials have processed another 5,815 Referendum 71 signatures, rejecting 14.4 percent.

State Election workers, on the second day of checking signatures for Referendum 71, have now processed over 11,000 names, and the campaign's error rate continues at a low 12.31 percent level. As of close of business Monday, 11,502 signatures have been checked, and 10,087 have been accepted and 1,415 have been rejected, mostly because the person does not show up on the voter rolls. The supervisor of the initiatives and referendum desk notes that the error rate will vary somewhat from day to day.