What Would Have Been

Last Thursday Washington State's Gay Marriage legislation would have gone into law had the campaign against Marriage Equality not turned in sufficient signatures.

Unfortunately, and as was expected, "Preserve" Marriage Washington turned in enough signatures to push the issue to the voters this November.

The campaign turned in 247,331 signatures on Wednesday, quite a bit more than the 120,577 required to send the issue to the ballot.

Preserve Marriage worked in tandem with the out-of-state National Organization for Marriage to enlist the help of volunteers and paid signature gatherers.  Already one paid signature-gatherer has had her 48 petition sheets disqualified for allegedly forging signatures. Election workers will now verify a random sample of the signatures to check for any other irregularities.  Even with those disqualifications, it's very likely they will have enough signatures to send the issue to the ballot.

Which means supporters of Marriage Equality will have to Approve Referendum 74 on their fall ballot.  Which makes now an awesome time to make sure you're registered to vote.