I am Dawn Lee from Redmond and I support Initiative 517 because I am a strong believer in our initiative rights, which our state has had for more than a century. Our right to initiative and petition our government is the most important tool we have to push back when government does things we don’t like.

Initiative 517’s primary policy change is guaranteeing you the right to vote on qualified initiatives.

In a recent unanimous ruling, the Washington State Supreme Court rejected an effort by special interest groups to stop the people from voting on a qualified initiative. Their reason: “Because ballot measures are often used to express popular will and to send a message to elected representatives, pre-election review unduly infringes on free speech.”

Despite this clear ruling by the Supreme Court, dozens of citizen-sponsored initiatives — liberal and conservative — were blocked from a public vote in recent years even though local citizens followed all the rules.

In King County, after local citizens qualified an initiative to reduce the size of the King County Council, the county sued to block the vote.

In Vancouver, after local citizens qualified an initiative for the ballot, the city council refused to let the people vote.

In Bellingham, Monroe, Mukilteo, Longview, Wenatchee and my hometown of Redmond, local citizens sponsored initiatives letting the voters decide on red-light ticketing cameras in their communities. In almost every instance, the city or out-of-state red-light camera company sued the citizens to block the vote. Their lawyers said only politicians were capable of deciding.

I was part of a team of local citizens in Redmond who sponsored and qualified one of those red-light camera initiatives for a vote. It was very upsetting when the city prevented the people from voting on it.

Unfortunately, this same thing has happened repeatedly to state and local initiatives.

But I-517 fixes that. With I-517, if the initiative qualifies, then the voters decide.  With I-517’s protections, future generations will have the chance to have their voices heard at the state and local level.

I-517 also gives everyone greater access to the initiative process. Since 1912, the number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot has skyrocketed almost tenfold, while the time to manually collect signatures has remained the same at six months. Oregon allows two years; Idaho a year and a half. I-517 simply matches the national average … which is one year to collect signatures.

And I-517 does one other thing that’s really important: it stops initiative opponents from bullying people who want to sign an initiative petition. Bullying — on sidewalks, walkways, and other public places — is becoming far too common and I-517 puts a stop to it. I-517 makes it safe for you to exercise your right to participate and vote. I-517 supports democracy, promotes respectful speech and stops bullying.

But what really moved me about Initiative 517 — what convinced me to support it and speak out for it — is its guarantee that the people get to vote on qualified initiatives. With I-517’s protections, future generations will have the chance to have their voices heard at the state and local level.

Please join me and the hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens who signed Initiative 517 petitions … in Voting Yes on 517. Thank you.

Dawn Lee is a longtime resident in the Redmond community.