For years I’ve heard my friend Josh Friedes, now the executive director at Equal Rights Washington, say that voter persuasion on marriage equality must happen during the quiet times between political campaigns.  Once a ballot campaign is under way, it’s too late to sway hearts and minds. Josh’s wisdom has been confirmed by a new [...]

The Oregonian Gary Randall and his Washington operative Larry Stickney claim to have turned in 138,000 signatures for Referendum 71 today.  To qualify for the ballot, they need 120,577 valid signatures.  Referendum 71 aims to repeal Washington state’s Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009.  It would not repeal DPs entirely. And so now we wait [...]

Petition fraud is a serious and ongoing problem in many states, and anti-equality forces have been known to use unethical or illegal methods of filling up their petitions.  Methods range from the simple copying of names and addresses from phone books or other petitions, to bait & switch, where the signature gatherer misrepresents the intent [...]