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Three More Initiative Campaigns Present Signatures Today

Article by Erik Smith. Published on Friday, July 02, 2010 EST.

But No Marijuana – I-1068 Comes Up Light

 

Elections officials count petitions and get set for the siganture verification process, which starts next week.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

 

OLYMPIA, July 2.—Three more initiative campaigns will present signatures today at the state elections office, making this year’s ballot one of the most crowded in state history.

            But it looks like this year’s effort to legalize marijuana came up a little light. Initiative 1068, the only ballot-measure campaign this year relying on volunteers rather than paid signature gatherers, came within striking distance – somewhere in excess of 200,000 signatures.

            It didn’t hit the magic number, though – 241,000 plus an adequate number of signatures to assure a margin of safety when signature-checks are made. The campaign notified supporters Thursday that it wouldn’t make its appointment at the state elections office today – which it had set for 4:20 p.m.

             Set to present signatures today are:

n                  Initiative 1105, one of two liquor-store privatization measures being circulated this year,

n                  Initiative 1107, a measure that would roll back tax increases imposed by the Legislature this year on soda pop, candy, and bottled water, and restore a business and occupations tax break for certain processors of canned foods, and

n                  Initiative 1053, a measure that would require a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate before tax increases are imposed, effectively blocking tax hikes for at least the next two years as the Legislature continues to deal with unprecedented shortfalls.

The three measures join three others that have already presented signatures. They are Initiative 1098, a high-earner income tax measure; Initiative 1082, a measure that would allow private competition for the state workers’ compensation insurance system, and Initiative 1100, a second and very different proposal to privatize liquor sales in Washington state.

If all six measures are certified for the ballot this year after signature-checking is completed, this year’s ballot will be tied with that of the year 2000 for the second largest number of initiatives to the people. The state’s most crowded ballot ever was in 1914, the first year for the initiative process in the state of Washington.


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