If we do not have a strong voter turn out for the 2009 election in Washington, the domestic partnership law may not survive. 77% of the electorate may support treating all families equally under the law, but if history repeats itself than we have no one to blame but ourselves for not protecting ALL Washington families. The solution is simple. We must vote, register to vote, register our friends to vote, and verify our voter registration is up to date with the Washington Secretary of State. When you receive your ballot in the mail, do not procrastinate. Vote early. Expect ballots to arrive on or around October 14. Ballots are due November 3. Approve Referendum 71.

The Secretary of State continues to verify signatures during the referendum 71 qualification process. There is a lot of chatter on blogs and newspapers about whether referendum 71 will qualify, and several people are beginning to jump to the false conclusion that because the data is showing an increasing number of invalid signatures that this fight is nearly over. At this early stage it is not only mathematically inaccurate to draw conclusions based on daily counts, it is politically dangerous.

We should be more focused on telling our story and continuing the conversation about why LGBT families desperately need legal protection.  We need to invite those we know to approve referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships.  If we lull ourselves into complacency by believing we are out of the water now we could be caught with our pants down if referendum 71 pulls out ahead at the end of the signature count. It is simply too close to call.

The Secretary of State doubled the shifts so two numbers will come out daily until the predicted completion date of August 17. I expect that twice a day there will be  significant conversation generated about those numbers. Horse races are fun to watch and talk about, but again a year from now the horse race won’t matter.  What will matter is whether the domestic partnership law was preserved and whether our story continues to be told as we move forward.

I also want to address a second conversation trend that is gaining momentum. Some people are beginning to turn their frustration towards the Washington voter with this question: “How could so many people sign this petition in the first place?” When we compare the potential number of signatures with the actual number of voters in Washington State we learn that at least 96% of Washington voters chose to support equality by not signing the petition.  Millions of people did not reach out to sponsors of referendum 71 to help them. This is a significant point that should be celebrated.  We do live in a progressive state so LGBT residents should remain hopeful.

The Approve Referendum 71 campaign is running full steam ahead with preparations for an election this fall.  No one is taking anything for granted. Each side has three observers watching the count to make sure that the count is fair and accurate. Volunteers began to reach out to voters on Wednesday through phone banks. We need lots of volunteers to help out so please sign up if you have not already. You should also consider a donation to help fund the phone banks. They are not cheap so every donation is welcome large and small.

While you are out and about this weekend hanging out with friends and family, remember to tell them to approve referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships, and have a conversation with them about why legal recognition is so important. If you have been affected by the domestic partnership law I would love to hear your story in the comments section below.

The Secretary of State announced today that they have a raw count of 137, 689 signatures on the R-71 petition. 120,557 valid signatures are needed to qualify referendum 71 for the ballot.  Historically 18% of signatures are invalid for various reasons.  The cushion for R-71 is 14.2 %, so we are still in the too close to call range. Because the margin is so close, the Secretary of State’s office will conduct a line by line review of the petition and will compare every signature against the voting record.  If a signature does not match the voting record it will be disqualified. If there are duplicate signatures the duplicates will be removed.

Meanwhile confusion about referendum 71 remains rampant as is evident in comments like these on the Seattle PI’s article about the petition. We must begin our campaign now as if Referendum 71 will qualify for the ballot.  We have nothing to lose by educating voters now that we must vote to Approve Referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships .  News articles and other local media outlets have not been adequately explaining how referendum 71 will function, so it is our responsibility as concerned citizens to educate our friends, neighbors, and strangers.  Use every resource you have.  Change your signature line in your e-mail account, change your voice mail, download an image to use on social networking sites like twitter and facebook from WAFST, print off a sign and put it in your window at work or home, write a song and sing it on the corner and raise some money for the campaign…. I think you get the idea.

Approve Referendum 71

The Secretary of State’s office announced on Tuesday through their blog that they will conduct a complete verification of the entire petition rather than a 3 % sampling.  While I think it is fantastic that every single signature will be scrutinized, it could be several weeks before we know the results.

It does not hurt to start thinking about the future.  What if Referendum 71 does qualify for the ballot?  What next? We need to switch our thinking from decline to sign to Approve Referendum 71, Preserve the Domestic Partnership Law. That’s right, Approve.  This is how the referendum will look if it makes the ballot in November:

REFERENDUM 71

Ballot Title
Statement of Subject: The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners [and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill].

Concise Description: This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.

Should this bill be:

Approved ___
Rejected ___

Unfortunately misinformation is already creeping into the media, blogs, social networks, and voters’ minds. As an exercise in prudence and for the protection of our families and friends, let’s start talking about referendum 71 as if it was going to qualify for the ballot.  Please start the conversation now because if we wait, it could be too late.  In a post prop 8 world, supporters of equality are very used to saying “no”.  I certainly understand the impulse to say no to the discrimination Larry Stickney and Gary Randall embody, but be clear when you are thinking about Referendum 71.  It is not prop 8.  It is different. Read it carefully and do not be tricked, because if we have learned anything by the petition gathering period we know that Randall and Stickney are more than willing to lie to get their way.  If nothing else remember, approve equality, approve our rights, approve our families, approve our future, approve of the legislatures decision to give us equal rights, approve of the law the legislature passed in 2009, approve domestic partnerships, approve referendum 71.

One more time, say it with me now and say it loud, “I approve referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships!“  Great job!  Now go say it to at least 10 people you know.

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]]> http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/feed/ 12 http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/24/video-of-r71-petiton-gatherer-and-his-lies/ http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/24/video-of-r71-petiton-gatherer-and-his-lies/#comments Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:35:51 +0000 Joe Mirabella http://blog.joemirabella.com/?p=329

Referendum 71 has absolutely nothing to do with same-sex marriage equality. This man is blatantly lying about his intentions.

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