Initiative 1639 certified for November ballot

Secretary of State Kim Wyman certified Initiative 1639 for the November General Election July 27.

I-1639, titled by its sponsors as “Gun Violence Prevention,” is the first of three initiatives submitted this summer to complete the verification process for the General Election. Initiatives 1631 and 1634 will also undergo the process to ensure that each has at least 259,622 valid qualifying signatures to make the ballot, as is required by law.

Secretary Wyman said concerns remain about whether the format of the I-1639 petition signature sheets complies with constitutional and statutory requirements, and whether it sets a precedent for future petitions. However, the initiative complied with the requirements of RCW 29A.72.170, which limits the Secretary’s authority over initiatives to specific criteria.

To verify that I-1639 had been signed by enough registered voters to qualify, the Office of Secretary of State examined a random sample of 11,380 of the 378,085 signatures submitted by the sponsors. The office found that more than enough of the sampled signatures were valid to calculate that the initiative would meet Constitutional requirements to make the November ballot.

Validation of I-1631 and I-1634 is expected to be completed in mid-August.

Washington’s Office of Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees, and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.