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Results of the count of ballots received before election day are encouraging but too close to call. So far Referendum 71 is passing 51.12% to 48.88%, meaning the domestic partnership law is safe for the moment. Tomorrow late afternoon the state will release the count of ballots deposited into drop boxes today, and some recently mailed ballots. Final results may not be available for several days as ballots mailed at the last minute make their way to the county auditors’ offices.
Hopeful note: of the estimated number of ballots on hand left to be counted, by far the most are from King County. This is encouraging, since King County is home to a large concentration of our base.
Fun fact: so far we’re winning in Snohomish County. That would be Larry Stickney’s county. 
Here’s the official campaign press release
Voters affirming domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian familiesFor Immediate Release – Nov. 3, 2009
Washington may be first state in nation to support domestic partnership by popular vote
SEATTLE – Washington voters today appear to be approving Referendum 71, upholding a state law that provides important legal protections for gays and lesbians and seniors in registered domestic partnerships.
Nearly all of the state’s voters now vote by mail and ballots only need to be postmarked by Election Day, not counted by Election Day, so many ballots won’t actually be counted until Wednesday or Thursday. In King County, where ‘Approve’ is winning by a two-to-one margin, fewer than half the ballots have been counted, and the campaign estimates that the ballots that remain to be counted in King County will account for over 30 percent of the votes remaining to be counted statewide.
“Based on the results we saw tonight, we will be making history in moving forward toward full equality for gay and lesbian Washingtonians and their families,” said Anne Levinson, Chair of the Approve 71 campaign. “Voters across the state listened to the personal stories of gay and lesbian families, and the challenges they face, and, based on the returns so far, they are sending a resounding message – we want to see all families treated equally under the law.”
“We believe the end result of this election will be a win not just for the couples and families, but for all Washingtonians who believe in values of fairness and equality,” Levinson continued. “It was profoundly wrong for some to try to eliminate the rights of others.”
“We are all harmed when any of us is treated differently under the law. We hope this puts an end to the divisive and mean spirited attacks by extremist groups against gay and lesbian Washingtonians and that we can all work together on the real problems confronting all families – gay and non-gay alike.”
The Approve 71 campaign was supported by a broad statewide coalition and received more than 500 endorsements, including faith-based groups and organizations representing communities of color, seniors, education, health care and public safety; clergy of many denominations; labor; large employers such as Microsoft, Google, Starbucks, Boeing; small businesses; civic groups, organizations that care for families, immigrant populations and children, who all took a stand in support of their friends, neighbors and co-workers.
“This was one of the shortest statewide ballot campaigns in Washington. We had only weeks between certification and the first ballots going out. If these trends continue, this will be only the sixth referendum approved in the history of our state,” said Josh Friedes, Approve 71 Campaign Manager. ”To have these kinds of numbers in an off-year election where those who vote tend to be older and more conservative is a real testament to the broad support for Washington’s gay and lesbian families.”
Friedes and Levinson both noted that because of Referendum 71 – which Protect Marriage Washington, the Family Policy Institute, the National Organization for Marriage and others fought to force on the ballot -Washingtonians now have a greater understanding of the challenges faced by gay and lesbian families and the legal protections they lacked.
“Were it not for the referendum, the law would have just quietly gone into effect in July. By forcing the referendum, those groups have likely done quite a lot to advance the cause of full equality for lesbian and gay families in Washington state,” Levinson said.
# # #
Contact:
Sue Evans
media@approve71.orgJosh Friedes
media@approve71.org
13 Comments
I just checked with my gentleman friend in Washington State.He dropped off his approve Referendum 71 ballot in the mail Tuesday afternoon.
Jason gets a long-distance kiss for doing the right thing and following through.
Dena
I like this press releaseEspecially this part:
I really hope there is not an attempt to put marriage on the ballot in California (or elsewhere) by any groups on the side of justice and equality. Having to defend one’s rights at the ballot box against the ignorant half of the electorate may be absurd, but at least it’s compelling. And all recent evidence to the contrary, with each additional vicious campaign, the bigots will find it harder and harder to herd enough troglodytes to the polls to win. When it comes to playing offense, here’s to continuing to pursue equality by other means.
Thanks for the updateand for all of your hard work!!
Looks like we’re on the way to winningLooking at the breakdown of the uncounted ballots (provided by the Secretary of State), it looks like we’re headed for victory.
I’ve run some calculations based on how many ballots remain uncounted in each county and, assuming current trends hold, we look set to have won by 51.7% to 48.3% once all the votes are counted. The county-by-county numbers, and my extrapolations, are here.
Suggested improvements to the spreadsheet are very welcome…
Thanks for those numbersThat’s a rather thin margin though. Are there other things to take into account? Such as the ballots that come in late reflecting more votes that had been undecided until the last minute? That could swing against us.
Obviously it’s only an extrapolation based on current dataWhilst it’s entirely possible that those returning their ballots late voted differently to those who returned their ballots as soon as they received them, there’s no way of measuring that effect at the moment. When the first batch of additional ballots is added to the count this evening we will get an indication; in the meantime, your guess is as good as mine…
It’s logicalbut the whole existence of referendum 71 has been illogical to me. Supposedly, upwards of 60% or so of Washington state voters were supposed to have been in favor of domestic partnerships. The referendum wasn’t even supposed to get enough signatures. But here we are, with the referendum on the ballot, no release of the signators’ names, and a narrow 51-49% advantage instead of the high 50′s where it should be.
Our enemies have successfully gamed the system there, which is why I just don’t trust what’s happening, even with the rosy outlook everyone’s reporting for approval.
undecidedmy reading of the Seattle part of King Co. is that people held onto their ballots because they were having a hard time choosing the mayoral candidate, not how to vote on R-71. Recent polling showed that there was a very low percentage on undecideds for R-71.
If the assumption is that older voters (less of whom are our base than younger voters) vote earlier, then the huge pile of late KC should trend younger and thus in our favor.
All that said, we’ll know in a few hours with the next data dump!
What time?is that dump expected
4:30 for Kin County5 or later for other counties. The links to the schedule and results page are the diary above.
4:30 for Kin County5 or later for other counties. The links to the schedule and results page are the diary above.
Thanks!Hoping for the best…any minute now.
Wednesday King County results good but…Today’s King Co. results are out, and the state total still shows R-71 passing 555,782 Approved (51.8%) to 516,834 Rejected (48.2%). However, ballots still continue to arrive at county assessors’ offices, and there are currently an estimated 389,682 ballots left to count. A large number of those are from SPokane and Pierce counties and will be reported tonight at 6 pm. And mroe from King Co. to be reported tomorrow. It still looks good and a lot of people are calling it a win for us, but I personally don’t want to call anything a done deal until it is mathematically impossible for the result to change. Stay tuned…