Washington

Leading initiative proponent Tim Eyman won a court battle Sept. 11, 2008, to reword the ballot title of a measure that would make it harder to amend the King County charter by initiative.^[1]

"They just put a stake in the heart of this thing," Eyman said. "There's no way the voters will vote for this now."^[1]

The measure, to go before King County voters in November, would double the number of signatures needed to place proposed charter amendments on the ballot. The original ballot wording chosen by county officials didn't mention that the requirement would be increased, only that the measure would "establish a process and signature threshold for amendments to the King County Charter by citizen initiative, as provided in Ordinance No. 16221."

King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick ordered that the wording be changed to explain clearly that the measure would boost the number of signatures required from 10% to 20%.^[1]

Eyman said that no county with a 20% signature theshold has ever had a successful initiative.

The Washington Supreme Court will begin the process Sept. 9, 2008, of deciding whether a provision of Initiative 960, which requires that all tax increases be approved by supermajority vote in both houses, is unconstitutional.^[2]

The democratic leadership filed their expected lawsuit March 3, 2008, against the requirement for a supermajority to raise taxes imposed by I-960 and asked the state Supreme Court for an expedited ruling on the matter.^[3]

The court denied the motion for a rush decision.

"This isn't about 960, and this isn't about undoing the will of the people," Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane) said. "This is about defending the constitution and the Legislature's ability to pass laws under the constitution."

But The News Tribune disagreed: "Actually, it's precisely about undoing the will of the people, because that's the only effect the lawsuit would have. The people of Washington will understand that, even if the Democrats in the Legislature don't."^[4]

• Washington 2008 ballot measures
• Washington ballot measures by year, from 1914-2008

• Washington local ballot measures

• Procedures for qualifying an initiative in Washington
• Washington signature requirements
• Washington campaign finance requirements
• Laws governing the initiative process in Washington
• Laws governing recall in Washington
• History of Initiative & Referendum in Washington
• Ballot access laws challenged in Washington

• Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• The News Tribune
• Seattle Times
• Washington media

• Washington vote fraud

• About Washington
• Washington's official web site
• Washington Elections Division
• Secretary of State's web page on 2008 initiatives

• Governor Christine Gregoire
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• Treasurer Mike Murphy

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