State fights for disclosure of R-71 petitions

August 19, 2009

The state Elections Division soon heads to federal court to try to clear the way for public release of Referendum 71 petitions.

Deputy Solicitor General James Pharris, who represents the Secretary of State, has filed the state's response to the continuing effort by R-71 sponsors to block disclosure of voters who signed their petitions. The sponsors, Protect Marriage Washington, asserting First Amendment rights and seeking protection against potential harassment or harm to signers, obtained a temporary order on July 29 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma that blocked the scheduled release of the petitions to five groups that have submitted public records request. The full hearing on the merits is in Judge Benjamin Settle's court on Sept. 3. Pharris argues that the Secretary of State views the petitions as a releasable public record and that there is no exemption authorized under the voter-approved Public Records Act. Sponsors cite no authority for the notion that the First Amendment shields the names of voters who have voluntarily submitted to an inherently public process, he writes. When voters sign a petition, their names and addresses are available to sponsors and potentially many others, including the government, and is not a private act, he adds. Courts have carved out only narrow exceptions to the disclosure laws, to protect marginalized minorities with unpopular views, but in this case, sponsors can't show that they have that problem, Pharris says. Sponsors gathered 137,000 signatures in just 68 days and hope they have a majority of Washington voters behind them if R-71 makes the ballots, he writes. He also says the sponsors haven't made a case that genuine harm would befall signers whose IDs are released. A similar attempt to block disclosure of gay marriage foes failed in California, he notes.
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