Initiative and Referendum Petitions. Under Washington's constitution, the people have the right of initiative and referendum. Any registered voter of the state, acting individually or on behalf of an organization, may propose legislation to create a new state law or to amend or repeal an existing state law by first filing a petition with the secretary of state (Secretary) and gathering a sufficient number of valid signatures of registered voters. ?The Legislature may enact statutes especially to facilitate this constitutional right.

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In order to qualify for the general election ballot or be referred to the Legislature, an initiative must garner valid signatures of registered voters of at least 8 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. In order for a referendum to qualify for the general election ballot, it must garner valid signatures of registered voters of at least 4 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election.?

Verifying Petition Signatures. The Secretary has the responsibility of verifying and canvassing the names of registered voters who have signed an initiative or referendum petition. The Secretary may use statistical sampling to accomplish this task. In 2024, the Washington Supreme Court (Court) concluded in Defend Washington v. Hobbs, that the Secretary is not required to verify the addresses of registered voters who have signed initiative and referendum petitions because that is neither a constitutional nor statutory requirement. Whether checking addresses should be required, the Court stated, is a question for the Legislature by statute or the Secretary by rule. ?

Declarations on Petitions for Signature Gatherers. In 2005, the Legislature specified that a declaration be printed on the reverse side of every petition for an initiative or referendum. Among other things, the declaration requires the signature gatherer swear or affirm, to the best of their knowledge, that persons signed the petition knowingly and without any compensation or promise of compensation. It further requires the signature gatherer to acknowledge that forgery of signatures on the petition is a class C felony, and that offering any consideration or gratuity to any person to induce them to sign a petition is a gross misdemeanor. The declaration does not instruct the signature gather to sign the declaration nor is there a space to sign the declaration. In a 2006 official opinion, the Washington State attorney general concluded the declaration did not have to be signed by the signature gatherer. ?

Requiring Petition Signature Gathers to Sign Declarations. Petition signature gatherers circulating initiative or referendum petitions must sign a declaration contained on each sheet of the petition affirming, under penalty of false swearing, the following:

• every petitioner signing a sheet correctly provided the accompanying information on the signature sheet;
• the petitioner was eligible to sign the petition and reviewed the sheet; and
• the petitioner was not compensated or given gratuity or promised compensation or gratuity for signing the petition.

Adding a Signature, Date, and Address Lines to Petition Declarations and Making Other Changes. The petition declarations for initiatives and referenda are changed so that the signature gatherer, under the penalty of false swearing, must also swear or affirm, to the best of their knowledge, the following additional elements:?

• that the persons signing the petition have reviewed the sheet; and
• that in addition to not receiving compensation or the promise of compensation, the persons signing the petition have not received a gratuity or promise of gratuity.

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The following lines are added to petition declarations for the signature gatherer to fill: signature, date, address, and county.?

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Requiring the Secretary of State to Use Residential Addresses When Verifying Petition Signatures. When verifying a signature on an initiative or referendum petition, the Secretary is required to verify that the residence address on the petition is the same as the residence address on the affidavit of voter registration. The Secretary must reject the signature if:?

• the address is different;
• the petition does not specify the residence address, or?
• the information required to be provided under the laws governing initiatives and referenda is not contained in the petition.?

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The Secretary may not invalidate a signature for minor discrepancies, such as an incomplete or inaccurate apartment or unit number in the signer's residence address. An invalidated signature does not affect the validity of another valid signature in the particular petition. The Secretary may still use statistical sampling techniques to verify signatures.?

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Stating Legislative Findings. In order to guard against fraud and mistake, the Legislature finds that signature gatherers should be required to sign the petition declaration under penalty of false swearing, and that residence addresses of registered voters signing the petition should be verified. ?