Washington State Judge rejects challenge to Referendum 71

9/9/09-by Paula Brooks constitution_phixr
A Thurston County Superior Court Judge has refused to block a public vote on a Washington State law that expanded domestic partnership benefits in that state.

Yesterday, Judge Thomas McPhee rejected arguments by Washington Families Standing Together claiming that Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed improperly by accepting thousands of petition signatures that supported putting Referendum 71, a measure that would ask voters to approve or reject the “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law on the ballot.

The Washington domestic partnership law adds more legal rights to the state’s established domestic partnerships for gay couples, and would put registered partners on par with married couples under state law. Some unmarried heterosexual couples also could register as domestic partners. A “yes” vote on R-71 would allow the law to go into effect, abut a “no” vote would reject it.

This is the second time in less than a week that Washington Families Standing Together’ attempts to block R-71 have been turned away; last week s judge in King County rejected the suit on technical grounds.

Washington Families Standing Together argued that tens of thousands of signatures may have been invalid, pointing specifically to the way signature-gatherers filled out their petitions.

By law, the petitions must include a statement that professes the voter signatures were gathered properly. In some cases, those declarations were not signed, or simply rubber-stamped with a sponsor’s signature moments before they were turned in to the state.

Reed has accepted petitions without signed declarations since 2006, under legal guidance from the state attorney general. McPhee sided with the state, noting that while state law makes clear the declaration must appear on the petition, it “does not require that the declaration be completed or signed by a signature gatherer.”

The judge also rejected an argument that Reed improperly counted signatures from people who weren’t registered voters when they signed the petitions.

McPhee said a time lag between sending in a voter registration card and the receipt of the petitions makes it impossible to know when the 43 people in question were actually registered.

Washington Families Standing Together chairwoman Anne Levinson said in a statement her group hasn’t decided whether to appeal.

“We would only appeal if we could do so swiftly and if we determined that’s the most helpful way to support these families under attack by these groups right now,” she said.

State elections officials have said that all legal challenges need to be completed by Thursday so they can prepare the materials needed for the November election.