Gregoire, Reed certify R-71 and November returns

[racaulk]

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed and Governor Chris Gregoire have made it official, certifying that voters turned down Tim Eyman’s latest ballot measure, but adopted the “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law approved by the Legislature last spring.

Referendum 71, placed on the ballot by foes of same-sex marriage, was approved by a margin of more than 110,000 votes, or more than 6 percentage points. National media describe it as the country’s first voter-approved domestic partnership or “everything-but-marriage” law.

The new law had been on hold pending the public vote, and will now go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, 30 days after the Nov. 3 General Election. The law is Senate Bill 5688 and applies to state-registered domestic partners, both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples where at least one partner is 62 or older.

According to the canvass of returns certified by Secretary Reed and later proclaimed by Governor Gregoire, R-71 had 951,822 votes to approve the law and 838,842 to repeal.

<---snip--->

Link: http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/FromOurCorner/index.php/2009/12/gregoire-reed-certify-r-71-november-returns
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This article is dated December 1, 2009, but the law went into effect today. Just a reminder that, in spite of our recent losses in Maine and New York, we still have made progress this year. Keep hope alive and never stop fighting. We will prevail.

:grouphug:

H/T: J.M.G.

[Sinistrous]

1. I had to read the linked article to make sense of this.

R71 appears to have been phrased bass-ackward, so that even though it was started by opponents of equality, a "yes" vote supported equality and a "no" vote opposed equality.

Now I can celebrate this victory in comfort.

[racaulk]

2. Yeah, it was similar to last year's Prop 8 in CA and this year's Prop 1 in ME.

A "yes" vote was against marriage equality, while a "no" vote was in favor of marriage equality. I'm sure in all three cases there were people, on both sides, that voted opposite of how they intended due to not interpreting the referendum question properly.

I'm really happy for the citizens of Washington though. I'm glad R-71 was approved. :)

[joeybee12]

3. Tim Eyman is scum...

...just in case you didn't know.