Redmond’s Villeneuve, Eyman file initiatives last month

Published 12:29 pm Friday, December 4, 2015

On Nov. 18, the Northwest Progressive Institute (NWPI) filed an initiative to the State Legislature.

And while the end goal of an initiative or referendum is to become a law, NWPI founder, executive director and Redmond resident Andrew Villeneuve said the goal of their initiative is to “put it out there for discussion.”

“It,” being the issue of low voter turnout.

The initiative, the Majority Vote Protection Act, states that statewide initiatives and referenda would not pass unless there is a majority voter turnout (in addition to a simple majority vote). In addition, according to the initiative, a state initiative would fail if it requires a higher voting threshold than simple majority for any legislative action and the measure is approved by less than the same percentage of registered voters. The number of registered voters in the state would be determined seven days before the election.

Villeneuve said laws passed in the Legislature require an absolute majority, meaning a measure must receive a simple majority vote with the majority of lawmakers present for the vote. A measure voters pass that gets turned into a law is equal to one passed by the Legislature in terms of power, so the same absolute majority requirement should apply to measures voted on by the people, he said.

He said initiatives and referenda — laws — cannot be decided by a minority of the population.

For Villeneuve and NWPI, the Majority Vote Protection Act is just research at the moment. He said when anyone files an initiative or referendum, it becomes a matter of public information and anyone — from the State Legislature to the average citizen — is able to look at it. That is the purpose of their initiative — to make people aware of the issue.

Submitting initiatives or referenda do not automatically mean they will appear on a ballot. Measures must garner 246,372 or 123,186 signatures on a petition, respectively, in order to be put to a vote.

If it looks like the Majority Vote Protection Act is an issue people are interested in, Villeneuve said they are open to collecting petition signatures to put it on the ballot.

Villeneuve said there are multiple ways to address a problem and the purpose of their initiative is just one way that could encourage registered voters to fill out and send in their ballots — or at least get people thinking about the state’s declining voter turnout during odd-numbered years.

One example of an initiative passing with low voter turnout came during the last general election last month.

Initiative 1366, which called for a decrease in state retail sales tax rate unless, by April 15, 2016, two-thirds the State Legislature authorizes to refer to the ballot a vote on a constitutional amendment. Tim Eyman of Mulkiteo, who sponsored the initiative, said the amendment would require a two-thirds legislative approval or voter approval to raise taxes. In addition, the amendment would require a majority legislative approval to set the amount of a fee increase.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, I-1366 passed 51.52 percent to 48.48 percent statewide, with a voter turnout of 38.45 percent. King County’s voter turnout was 39.17 percent and the measure actually failed with a 61.32 percent no vote.

Villeneuve noted that if more people participated in the election, I-1366’s outcome may have been different.

Eyman filed another initiative to the State Legislature last month that would limit tax increases to just one year, with only two exceptions: if the measure passed with two-thirds legislative approval or if the measure was approved by voters.

Eyman described it as another “tougher to raise taxes initiative,” referring to I-1366 as well as other similar initiatives he has sponsored in the last six years.

Like Villeneuve’s initiative, Eyman said they are not planning to collect signatures for this initiative yet, but they will if they feel there is enough interest to put it on the November 2016 ballot.