Election-Campaign Law

Washington State in Supreme Court Over Petition Signatures

By Thad Hall

Dehlia Lithwick has a great story covering the Washington State case about whether signatures on petitions are covered under public disclosure provisions of Public Records Acts. The article is both an excellent analysis and also incredibly funny.  As she notes, the question that underlies this case is whether you view politics as a contact sport — where a person needs to be able to explain something simple like why they signed a petition — or view politics as aromatherapy, where we shouldn’t have to be bothered with others questioning us.  She also notes that a key point in the debate is whether petitions should only be reviewed by the Secretary of State; what if I don’t trust the Secretary of State and think their signature review was biased?

It is a great piece.

Full post as published by Election Updates on April 29, 2010 (boomark / email).