Supreme Court releases full decisions in initiative challenges
October 18, 2024
After rejecting initiative challenges to keep four initiatives off the November ballot earlier this year, the Washington State Supreme Court released its full decisions in these cases Thursday.
On August 10, the Court denied requests in two initiative cases to keep multiple initiatives off the November ballot, including I-2066, protecting energy choice and stopping natural gas bans.
Initiative challenges = baseless
In the two separate cases, Defend Washington and Washington Conservation Action Education Fund claimed Secretary of State Hobbs improperly validated signatures. The group sought to require the Secretary of State to not only verify petition signatures but also require address verification. The Court unanimously disagreed with these baseless claims and dismissed the cases.
Additionally, in Washington Conservation Action Education Fund v. Hobbs, the court ruled opponents of I-2066 “brought this case in the wrong court and under the wrong statute.”
“These last-ditch attempts to stop Washington voters from our constitutionally protected right of initiative highlight how deeply anti-democratic groups like Defend Washington and Washington Conservation Action Education Fund are,” said BIAW Executive Vice President Greg Lane. “BIAW is glad these full decisions demonstrate the court saw through these ploys. We know Secretary Hobbs follows the rules of law in initiative signature validations and so does the court. More than half a million voters demanded a voice in this matter and now Washington voters can protect energy choice by voting yes on I-2066.”
Prior attempts to block energy choice dismissed
Opponents attempted to block Initiative 2066 earlier in the process by challenging its ballot title. The move delayed signature-gathering efforts by several weeks.
Despite this, supporters submitted more than 546,000 signatures in seven weeks and the Secretary of State certified the initiative on July 24.
By state law, supporters needed 324,516 valid signatures from registered Washington voters by July 5 to qualify for the November General Election ballot.