A group has sprung up in our state calling themselves whosigned.org and whose sole purpose appears to be intimidating people who may disagree with the recent Domestic Partnership law passed by our legislature.
Citizens in disagreement with the passage of SB 5688 exercised their rights by beginning a petition to place the matter before voters statewide and not just the legislature.
Referendum 71 was required to obtain just over 120,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot and supporters claim to have gathered 130,000 signatures.
As could be expected, groups opposed to R-71 have sprung up utilizing their rights to lobby against the effort by forming an argument against it, not by proposing intimidation.
The official campaign opposing R-71 does not support this effort at citizen intimidation.
This fringe group, whosigned.org claims on their website,
What we are doing
Once signature petitions for initiatives and referenda are submitted and verified by the Secretary of State they are part of the public record. When signatures for Referendum 71 have been verified WhoSigned.Org will:
· Work to make this public record signature information accessible and searchable on the internet.
· Flag the 3% signature sample that is certified by the Elections Division of the Secretary of State.
· Provide Washington State Voters with a way to check that the public record of their advocacy is
correct.
· Provide Washington State Voters with a way of reporting when their signature has been recorded
either fraudulently or in error.
As has become the norm with fringe leftist groups, knowing following proper procedures all too often fails their agenda, intimidation becomes their next step.
While they try to hide their true intent with words as seen above, they really desire to expose citizens who disagree with their agenda and subject them to possible harassment, if they are persons of note.
It is obvious this group fears a similar outcome as we saw in California’s Proposition 8 as California citizens overwhelmingly voted to overturn their same-sex marriage law imposed by the legislature, not the voters.
To date, no state passing same-sex marriage has done so by a vote of the people, only by Judicial Decree or state legislatures caving in to a small minority.
Where was this group as hundreds of fraudulent votes turned up to propel Christine Gregoire in the governorship in 2004?
Do you really think they would want the signatures of voters who signed a petition to grant same-sex marriage made public and subject them to possible harassment or boycotts?
We must stand up to the intimidation tactics employed by whosigned.org and preserve our Representative Republic.
While I disagree with those groups who oppose Referendum 71, I applaud their distancing themselves from this fringe group and opposing the initiative by the proper and legal methods.
