It's simple: Want privacy? Don't sign petitions

This editorial appears in the Jan. 15, 2010, Yakima Herald-Republic.

State Rep. Mike Armstrong has come up with what he thinks is another legitimate reason to keep secret the names of those who sign a statewide initiative or referendum: to protect law enforcement officers from physical harm.

"We need to be cognizant about the risks of making this information public, especially at a time when police officers have been targeted," Armstrong said in a prepared statement.

We would like to remind the Republican lawmaker from Wenatchee that the recent deaths of law enforcement officers in this state had absolutely nothing to do with their participation in signing petitions for initiatives. His cynical attempt to hide the names of petition-signers is a way of accomplishing what backers of Referendum 71 have been so far unable to do. R-71's attempt to overturn the "everything but marriage" law failed at the polls last November.

Referendum supporters feared harassment from gay-rights activists, one or two of whom foolishly vowed to post online all of the names and addresses of the measure's petition-signers. As a result, the supporters argued their protected right to free speech would be undermined.

A federal judge in Seattle agreed with the R-71 supporters but an appeals court overturned that decision. The matter now is before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Our reply to Armstrong and to those who wish to exempt the identities of petition-signers: If you don't want your name made public, then don't sign the initiative or referendum.

However, don't undermine this state's Public Disclosure Act that voters passed overwhelmingly in 1973. The act clearly states that petitions for any statewide measure, whether it's an initiative or a referendum, as was the case for overturning the domestic partnership law, is a public record.

To help residents change how the state operates, Washington's constitution allows for the initiative process. And that means gathering signatures of registered voters. It's done at supermarkets, in front of Husky Stadium on warm autumn afternoons, in busy shopping malls. It's all out in the open, with people affixing their signatures to petitions.

What needs to be done is not arrived at through Armstrong's poorly conceived legislation, but through a bill sponsored by Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle. That measure would expressly make the names of petition-signers public. That's the way it should be.

We hope this clarion call for transparency carries over to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices are expected to take up this issue today when they are expected to decide whether to hear the merits of the R-71 case.

We trust the justices will decide against hearing the case and let stand a lower court's decision requiring the names remain public.

Again, if you don't want to be part of a public process like signing a petition, then don't sign it. It's that simple.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.