This Washington
Re: Releasing Signatures
Assistant Director of Elections Katie Blinn at the Washington Secretary of State's Office has what could be a smarty-pants endnote for the state's brief in the upcoming R-71 case. The state is arguing that names of people who signed the anti-gay rights initiative should be made public while the plaintiffs will argue that releasing the names would endanger signers.
Blinn did a little research—calculating the number of signatures that have been released due to public records requests prior to R-71. Answer: 2 million.
"The point is," she wrote to her Secretary of State colleagues in an email, "we know of no harassment or intimidation that has resulted from these public records requests."
Here's what she found:
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You may not think these initiatives are as controversial as R-71, but honestly, people can get damn serious about the MVET and property rights and renewable energy.
Blinn did a little research—calculating the number of signatures that have been released due to public records requests prior to R-71. Answer: 2 million.
"The point is," she wrote to her Secretary of State colleagues in an email, "we know of no harassment or intimidation that has resulted from these public records requests."
Here's what she found:
2006 & 2007 | 917 | Motor Vehicle Charges | 265,809 | ||
2006 & 2007 | 920 | Estate Tax | 395,219 | ||
2009 | 933 | Regulation of Private Property | 317,353 | ||
2007 | 937 | Energy Resources | 337,804 | ||
2008 | 1029 | Long-Term Care | 318,047 | ||
2009 | 1033 | Limiting certain revenue | 315,444 | ||
Total Signatures Released | 1,949,676 |
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You may not think these initiatives are as controversial as R-71, but honestly, people can get damn serious about the MVET and property rights and renewable energy.