On Friday (July 14), King County Elections determined that the Petition to Repeal Burien’s Ordinance No. 651 contained an insufficient number of signatures to move forward – so far.

All 4,181 petition signatures submitted were compared against voter registration signatures and address information on file with the County Election office, and of those, 3,119 were determined to be registered voters of King County in the City of Burien. Because that number did not meet the requirement of 3,643 valid signatures to certify, the County determined that the petition is insufficient by 524 signatures.

However, petitioners have until July 24 to gather enough signatures, so it still may make it to the ballot.

Here’s more info from the City of Burien:

Per RCW 35.17.280, an insufficient petition may be amended within ten days from the date of certification provided by the city clerk. Mr. Keller, the petition signature-gatherer, was informed in writing that he has until close of business, 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 24, 2017 to amend his petition by submitting additional signatures.

If the required number of signatures are submitted by the deadline and found to be valid by the County Elections office, the City will be required either to (1) adopt the proposed ordinance as set forth in the petition (which repeals Ordinance no. 651) or (2) pass a resolution submitting the measure to the County Elections office and asking that it be placed on the November 7, 2017 ballot. Because the second option must be completed by August 1, 2017, a special meeting will be scheduled to take place between July 24th 2017 and July 31, 2017 if needed.

At Monday night’s Council meeting, City Attorney Lisa Marshall will present information about the petition process and schedule. She will not be presenting any information regarding the merits of the petition. And the Council will not be discussing the merits either (they are prevented from doing so at this point in the process by law (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.17A.555).

Here’s more info:

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7 replies on “Not enough valid signatures may doom ‘Sanctuary City’ repeal petition”

  1. That is a lot of invalid sigantures. Having run an initiative (elected Mayor in SeaTac) you need to obtain voters lists and verify them in advance of turn-in. I knew when we were short and even when we had enough we obtained 10 percent more just in case.

    Regardless of the issue running an initiative campaigns is tough. Twice was enough me especially after losing by 9 votes.

    All that effort and not even make it to the ballot? That’s got to be a tad embarrassing.

  2. I am a citizen of Des Moines, but was raised in Burien. I have heard that Burien citizens had no voice in or vote on Ordinance No. 651. Did the Burien City Council enact it on their own? I hope that is not true. I know many longtime Burien residents that would have voted against it. No citizens should ever be required to petition to repeal an ordinance that they weren’t allowed to vote on in the first place. I hope that what I heard was incorrect.

  3. This topic is on the ballot anyway as Tosta and Armstrong are up for re-election. Both voted in favor of the ordinance.

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