This Washington
Extra Fizz: What Will Happen If Both Liquor Measures Pass
Niki Reading of TVW has a Q&A with Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed today in which Reed shed some light on the murky question
of what will happen if both I-1100 and I-1105, the dueling liquor-privatization initiatives, pass. State law, Reed said, mandates that if two similar initiatives pass, the one that gets the most votes wins.
But, Reed added, there's a wrinkle: The two proposals include some conflicting language. "Say one gets more votes but the other has some language the one that got the most votes didn’t have – then that would be included," Reed said. "In other words, this is going to give the attorneys a lot of fun."
Incidentally, there's a local precedent for this conundrum: Backs in 1998, activists proposed a measure that would have competed with the Libraries for All property-tax levy. Although the rival measure ultimately failed to make it on to the ballot, if it had, the same rules—the measure that gets the most votes wins—would have applied.
But, Reed added, there's a wrinkle: The two proposals include some conflicting language. "Say one gets more votes but the other has some language the one that got the most votes didn’t have – then that would be included," Reed said. "In other words, this is going to give the attorneys a lot of fun."
Incidentally, there's a local precedent for this conundrum: Backs in 1998, activists proposed a measure that would have competed with the Libraries for All property-tax levy. Although the rival measure ultimately failed to make it on to the ballot, if it had, the same rules—the measure that gets the most votes wins—would have applied.
