The Olympian
Olympia district voters will decide on a four-year, $25 million levy that would pay for construction projects and technology upkeep on the February ballot. Olympia is the fourth Thurston County school district to schedule a measure in the Feb. 9 special election. North Thurston, Tumwater and Tenino have also placed maintenance and operations levies on the Feb. 9 ballot. The Griffin, Rainier and Rochester school boards are expected to decide by Wednesday on their maintenance and operations levies.
The fate of the Referendum 71 challenge to domestic partner rights in Washington is in the hands of signature checkers at the Office of the Secretary of State. And it appears sponsors of the measure, who want to send new domestic partnership rights to the voters for a second look, say they don’t think they are getting a fair shake. I don’t know the details, but Gary Randall, spokesman for the Protect Marriage Washington campaign that collected signatures for R-71, called me a day late last week for my story about the signature-checking process.
Sponsors of Referendum 71 say they are headed to court for a hearing Wednesday afternoon over their request to block release of the names of voters who signed their measure. R-71 puts on the ballot the state law, Senate Bill 5688, that expands the civil rights protections for registered domestic partners, including same-sex couples in Washington.
If it seems late in the season, it is ”” if you’re collecting signatures for ballot measures. Backers of Referendum 72 just got the final OK today to print petitions and go out collecting signatures to put their measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. R-72 sponsor Jerry Galland needs 120,577 valid voter signatures by July 25, just five weeks away. This one looks like a steep climb. But Galland says he’s going ahead regardless.
Tim Eyman sent out an email today, alerting reporters and his supporters that the Office of the Secretary of State won’t accept the petitions and signatures on July 3, which is a Friday and, as it turns out, a federal holiday. That moves the deadline to Thursday, July 2, for filing roughly 240,000 valid voter signatures. State elections officials notified initiative sponsors on June 8, spokesman David Ammons of the office of the Secretary of State says.
A Shaw Island man has filed a referendum challenge today to the state’s participation in the national-popular-vote compact that would trump the traditional Electoral College pick for president.