Lawsuit filed to throw out I-917 signatures

The coalition working to defeat I-917 on this November's ballot isn't sitting on its hands waiting for the Secretary of State to announce what happens to Eyman's latest misguided initiative. The offensive action has begun:

Foes of Tim Eyman's latest $30 car-tab initiative want Thurston County Superior Court to throw out about 3,000 pages worth of voter signatures. That would kill Eyman's chances of a public vote this fall.

Fifteen business, labor and environmental organizations announced the challenge on Tuesday, invoking a 2005 law that requires signature-gatherers to personally sign a declaration that the information on the petition is correct.

Initiative 917 solicitors did not sign the statement on more than 3,000 of the 17,000 petitions, and those pages must be thrown out, the group said.

"The Legislature passed a law to ensure that signature-gatherers are honest and accountable," said Steve Mullen, president of the Washington Roundtable, the organization of top corporate CEOs. "There has been substantial fraud in other states, and laws like this are necessary to keeping the initiative process clean and to protect the voters."

The new law requires that petitions include a signed declaration on every sheet.

It's good to see this lawsuit has finally been filed.