Democrats, hands off WA’s initiative process. It’s a solution in search of a problem | Editorial

State Senate Democrats are advancing a bill that would add hurdles to Washington’s cherished initiative process.

It’s hard to know their true motives, but three plausible theories come to mind: They genuinely believe they are making signature gathering more secure, they want to make the process harder, or they are trolling Republicans.

Senate Bill 5382 would make a couple of seemingly innocuous changes to how signatures are gathered and verified to put an initiative on the ballot.

Democrats say that they want these changes to bolster the security of the initiative process. These are little things that will go a long way to prevent cheating. Even the smallest things can produce a chilling effect on direct democracy.

The first change would require signature gatherers to sign a declaration on the back of each sheet that says to the best of their knowledge the signatures are valid and everyone signed freely.

If a signature gatherer forgets to sign a sheet, it could invalidate all of the signatures on the front, disenfranchising Washingtonians who did nothing wrong.

Signature gatherers who do sign increase their legal exposure. Anyone convicted of false swearing could go to jail and be fined up to $5,000.

It might not be long before aggressive prosecutors start targeting signature gatherers working on controversial initiatives. Just a case or two could be enough to scare off signature gatherers, especially volunteer ones, and thereby torpedo a nascent initiative.

The second change would require petition signers to include their home address on the sheet. The secretary of state then would have to match that address with voter registration records when validating signatures. If they don’t align, the signature would not count.

People who move or use a post office box on forms should not be disqualified.

There’s also a cost to taxpayers. Right now, the secretary of state matches signatures on petitions with those on file to make sure they are valid. If addresses also must be verified, it will take longer and cost more. There is no money in the bill to cover that, but it has to come from somewhere.

Both current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, and his predecessor, Republican Sam Reed, oppose the bill for all those reasons.

That rare bipartisanship from the state’s current and former top election officials should give lawmakers pause. Reed’s involvement is especially telling.

He was a longtime, revered secretary of state who was respected by members of both major parties. When something is so problematic that it warrants his speaking out from political retirement, everyone should pay attention.

So why are Democrats really pushing this bill? That brings us to a second possible motive: They want to make putting an initiative on the ballot more difficult.

Democrats hold a clear majority in Washington these days, and they are tired of minority Republicans gumming up the works with initiatives. Last year, seven initiatives that qualified for the ballot targeted progressive priorities. If Democrats can make signature gathering harder, their policies will be less vulnerable to voter rejection.

There is one more possibility. Are Democrats just trolling Republicans?

The official legislative report on the bill notes that those in favor argue, “This is a basic safeguard to protect against mistakes, reduce errors in signature matching and help to prevent fraud. Implementing this requirement strengthens the process without making it harder for valid signatures to be counted.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s exactly the same sort of language Republicans use when they talk about voter ID and proof-of-citizenship laws. Maybe Democrats invoked it just to make a point. “You’re all for election integrity, Republicans, so vote for this.”

There is no evidence of widespread fraud either in signature gathering or in voting. Partisans invoke the security canard to mask their less noble intentions. The public shouldn’t fall for it.

SB 5382 is a solution in search of a problem. The initiative process works fine. There’s no need to meddle, whatever the manufactured reasons.

This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Democrats, hands off WA’s initiative process. It’s a solution in search of a problem | Editorial."