WA judge rejects challenge to vote on gay benefits
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A judge on Tuesday refused to block a proposed ballot initiative on expanded domestic partnership benefits for gay couples in Washington state.
An appeal was considered likely, however, with just a few days remaining before officials need to begin printing materials for the Nov. 3 general election.
The case involves Referendum 71, which would put the Legislature’s latest expansion of domestic partnership rights for gay couples on the November ballot.
The measure, sponsored by a conservative political group called Protect Marriage Washington, would ask voters to approve or reject the “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law that state lawmakers passed earlier this year.
The lawsuit seeking to halt the vote was filed by Washington Families Standing Together, a gay-rights group. It claims Secretary of State Sam Reed improperly accepted thousands of petition signatures that supported putting R-71 on the ballot.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee rejected those arguments.
The new law would add more legal rights to the state’s established domestic partnerships for gay couples, putting registered partners on par with married couples under state law. Unmarried heterosexual couples also could register as domestic partners.
A “yes” vote on R-71 would put the newest law into place, and a “no” vote would reject it. The underlying laws laying out domestic partnerships — enacted in 2007 and broadened once already in 2008 — would not be affected.
Washington Families Standing Together’s previous attempt to block R-71 was turned away last week in King County for technical reasons. But King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector said she was concerned Reed may have accepted tens of thousands of invalid signatures.
Reed certified R-71 for the November ballot last week. Election officials revised the number of accepted signatures downward Tuesday, after an audit showed some signatures had been incorrectly accepted.
The latest official tally of accepted petition signatures for R-71 was 121,780 — about 1,200 more than the minimum required to qualify for the ballot.
A separate federal lawsuit brought by R-71’s sponsors is seeking to keep those signed referendum petitions secret.
The petitions are considered public records under state law, but R-71’s sponsors claim they could face harassment by political opponents if the names of petition-signers are released. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle is expected to rule in that case this week.
The domestic partnership expansion was supposed to take effect on July 26, but the referendum campaign put it on hold. If the referendum does appear on the ballot, the law would take effect only if approved by voters Nov. 3.
As of this week, more than 5,900 domestic partnerships have been filed with the state since the law took effect in 2007.
On the Net:
Legislature: www.leg.wa.gov
Washington Families Standing Together: www.wafst.org
Protect Marriage Washington: www.protectmarriagewa.com
Domestic partnership information: www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/domesticpartnerships
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