Washington
A group of people who believe city leaders are shutting out the public by holding regular council meetings during working hours are campaigning to let voters decide when the Everett City Council should meet. Paul Donovan, one of the campaign organizers, said about 3,000 signatures are needed to get an initiative on the ballot that would re-establish all night meetings. He doesn’t think collecting them would be much of a problem.
Five activists filed a ballot initiative Monday that would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales under Washington state law ”” one of the most sweeping efforts at marijuana reform playing out around the country this year. Its sponsors include two Seattle lawyers and the director of Seattle’s annual Hempfest. They call themselves Sensible Washington, and say that in a time of dire budget woes, the state’s government should stop spending money on police, court and jail costs for people who use or produce marijuana.
White is also introducing a ballot reform bill in response to the all-but-hidden I-1033 box (Tim Eyman’s state revenue cap) on the King County ballot. HB 2496 would require ballots to place a simple demarcation such as “Start Voting Here” to help prevent voters from overlooking items on the ballot.
Olympia district voters will decide on a four-year, $25 million levy that would pay for construction projects and technology upkeep on the February ballot. Olympia is the fourth Thurston County school district to schedule a measure in the Feb. 9 special election. North Thurston, Tumwater and Tenino have also placed maintenance and operations levies on the Feb. 9 ballot. The Griffin, Rainier and Rochester school boards are expected to decide by Wednesday on their maintenance and operations levies.
The saga in Washington state over whether or not to make public the names and personal information of referendum petition signers continues. The U.S. Supreme Court is looking into the matter, but some in Washington don’t want to wait. They want this information public, and they want it now.
State Rep. Reuven Carlyle filed a bill for the next session that would make it a specific law that the names, home addresses, and signatures of those citizens who sign a petition are made public. What kind of precedent would this set?
The nation’s highest court will decide by January 11 if they will hear arguments in Doe v. Reed, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The case hinges on whether signatures on a referendum petition fall under the state’s public records disclosure law.
The Sumner School Board passed a resolution that authorizes a ballot measure for the Feb. 9 special election. The measure asks voters to approve a replacement levy for 2011 through 2014. “Our current existing levy expires at the end of 2010,” said Ann Cook, communications director for Sumner School District. “This replaces that levy. It’s not a new tax.”
The Bellevue School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to place a pair of levy proposals on the February ballot. The measures would raise a combined $266 million if approved by voters, and both would replace expiring levies. One levy would authorize the district to collect $191 million over four years to pay for operations and educational programs, including salaries and benefits, transportation, athletics, English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, and the district’s seven-period day.
The Vashon Island school board is expected to vote tonight on a resolution to put a $47.7 million bond measure before voters next November, 10 months later than the board had previously discussed. The board, in what ap-pears to be a consensus, de-cided it made more sense to delay the election and ask voters to approve the measure in November rather than February.
The results are in from the numerous ballot measures that were voted on yesterday. It looks like about half passed and half did not. Next year should be quite a bit bigger in terms of the number of citizen-initiatives on the ballot. You can check out the results here.
It’s election day today in many states around the country. Even though it’s technically an off-election year there are still many initiatives and referenda on ballots in many states. Make sure to get out and vote today on the ballot measures in your state. Here’s Ballotpedia.org’s list of state-wide ballot measures being voted on today.
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Maine and Washington voters will weigh in on gay marriage today, as New Jersey seeks $400 million for land preservation and Ohio decides whether to allow casinos.
Complexity and controversy could be behind a slow return of election ballots from Chelan County voters. A referendum measure and a tax initiative having to do with domestic-partner rights and limits on revenue increases may have voters sitting on the fence until the last minute, said Skip Moore, the county’s interim auditor. Moore said about 7,100 ballots had been returned as of Monday afternoon. That accounts for about 19 percent of ballots mailed out to legal county voters.
The Des Moines City Council voted unanimously at their Oct. 8 meeting to oppose Initiative 1033 on the November ballot. I-1033 would limit the annual growth in revenue that cities, counties and the state could use to provide services under a formula based on inflation and population growth. Revenue from both taxes and fees above that limit would be used to reduce property taxes the following year.
Lewis County voters are casting ballots by the thousands. About one in five Lewis County voters have already returned their ballots to the county auditor’s office. It’s in advance of the November election which is one week from today. The ballot includes a long list of local elected seats. There are also several EMS measures including Chehalis. Lewis County voters are also helping decide Initiative 1033 and Referendum 71. Help make sure your vote is counted by signing and dating your absentee ballot before mailing it back. They are due November 3.