Referendum 71 will ask voters to reject or approve the domestic partnership law

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Washington state: Constantine, Hutchison back "everything but marriage" law

Dow Constantine, Susan Hutchison both back state gay-rights law.

In the race for King County executive, Dow Constantine has tried to paint Susan Hutchison as a conservative whose values are out of sync with local voters.

But when it comes to Referendum 71, the November referendum on the state's "everything but marriage" law, Constantine and Hutchison agree.

They both want to keep the law, which grants a wide range of benefits to same-sex couples, in place.

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Politics Northwest | Constantine, Hutchison back "everything but marriage" law | Seattle Times Newspaper

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Referendum 71 is a ballot referendum that asks Washington state voters to approve the expansion of domestic partnership rights and obligations in Washington's originally limited domestic partnership legislation. The expansion was signed by Governor Christine Gregoire on May 18, 2009.

Proponents of holding the referendum (who are hoping to defeat the expansion of rights and obligations for domestic partners) turned in about 137,689 signatures to the Washington Secretary of State's office on July 25, 2009. 120,577 valid signatures are required to qualify the referendum for the November 2009 ballot. Enforcement of the domestic partnership legislation was delayed pending a verification of the signatures. If there had not been enough valid signatures to qualify the referendum for the November ballot, the legislation expanding Domestic Partnership rights and obligations would have taken effect immediately.

All signatures will be verified by the office of the Washington Secretary of State. There are three reasons a signature may be rejected: (1) the signer is not a registered voter; (2) the signature is a duplicate; (3) the signature does not match the signature on file. On September 1, the Secretary of State's office certified 121,617 valid signatures, more than enough to qualify the measure for the November 3 ballot.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendum_71_(2009)