Washington Supreme Court Hands Huge Loss To Activist Group

The Washington State Supreme Court was asked to consider a direct appeal involving five of the Initiatives put forth by Let's Go Washington.  An activist group in direct opposition of the Initiatives, Defend Washington, pursued litigation against Secretary of State Steve Hobbs regarding the signature verification process his office used to validate the gathered signatures.

The litigation began in January of this year when Defend Washington, along with Washington Conservation Action Education Fund, filed separate suits that took aim at the practice of signature verification used by the Secretary of State's Office.

What's At Issue?

The groups contended that checking signatures against the voter rolls was not enough to properly ensure that the signers were legal voters.  They believed the SOS should have also matched addresses of the signers to prove residency.  Citizens were granted the right to challenge the signature verification process by RCW 29A.72.240.  Before directly petitioning the WSSC to hear the case, a Superior Court dismissed the challenge by ruling the SOS's process was legally followed.

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The Secretary of State uses statistical sampling in the signature verification process.  Three percent of signatures gathered were taken by the office and verified
which ones matched registered voters’ signatures in the voter rolls.  They also performed
other work to determine sufficient individual valid signatures had been submitted.  Under RCW 29A.72.230; WAC ch. 434-379 the legislature gave the SOS the ability under law to use statistical sampling in this way.

That was upheld by the Superior Court which said the Defend Washington's statutory challenge against the SOS was moot.  The State Supreme Court granted the expedited review asked for by Defend Washington.  They agreed with the Superior Court in declaring Defend Washington's challenge moot and upheld the process used by the Secretary of State to certify the signatures gathered in support of the Initiatives submitted by Let's Go Washington.

The last ditch attempt to take away the right of Washingtonians to weigh in on their future was denied by the highest court in the State.