Prop. 4 and I-1033 swoon, while R-71 appears to be passing statewide.
Washington voters appear to have given their seal of approval to the state’s new “everything but marriage law.” With just under 1 million votes counted, the Washington Secretary of State’s website showed (as of 10:37 p.m.) that Referendum Measure 71 was passing by a 51.12% to 48.88% margin. UPDATE: As of 5:40 a.m. 11/4, the margin had shrunk, slightly to 51.03% favoring and 48.97% opposed. For the latest count on R-71 and statewide Initiative 1033, go here.
Referendum 71 was placed on the ballot by those who opposed the state’s registered domestic partners law that was passed and signed into law earlier this year. It expands the rights and
responsibilities accorded to state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be the same as those accorded married couples.
The measure was passing statewide, even though all counties in eastern Washington were voting against it. In Spokane County, the measure was receiving just under 40% support. Still, with broad support in King County, R-71 appears on its way to passing, with the Seattle Times reporting, at 10 p.m.: “If you assume the roughly 50 percent statewide turnout predicted by the Secretary of State’s office, there appear to be far more votes left to count in the counties that are approving Referendum 71 than in the counties that are opposing it.”
The fate of two other high profile ballot measures appears settled however. In Spokane, the Community Bill of Rights measure brought forward by Envision Spokane (Proposition 4) was losing with only 25% of the vote. On the state level, the latest anti-tax measure championed by Tim Eyman, Initiative Measure 1033, appears to be failing by a considerable margin. With over 963,000 votes counted statewide, less than 45% of Washington voters had cast ballots in favor of I-1033. Had it passed, I-1033 would have limited the growth of revenue to the state’s general and other funds, and to “current expense funds” maintained by cities and counties.
In Spokane City Council races with about two thirds of the vote counted, Amber Waldref and council incumbent Nancy McLaughlin were ahead by a wide margin, while incumbent Mike Allen trailed challenger Jon Snyder by about 4 percent.
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