WAmend Update: I-735 is going to make it!

Exciting news to share. Initiative 735, WAmend’s initiative to get big money out of elections and call for a federal constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, is on the verge of qualifying as an initiative to the Legislature! 314,000 signatures had been collected as of this afternoon, and more were submitted to the campaign tonight. The big turn-in is tomorrow afternoon in Olympia, and any residual signatures will be submitted in a final run on Thursday afternoon.

If you have an I-735 petition with *any* signatures on it — even just one! — please let the campaign know right away so arrangements can be made to get it into their hands. You can contact Tom Elliot, the King County organizer:

Tom Elliot
King County Organizer
206.605.0122
[email protected]

Petitions not submitted to the Secretary of State by the close of business (5 PM) on Thursday, December 31st, will not count.

If the Secretary of State determines that a large enough number of signatures has been submitted, including a cushion to account for duplicate and invalid signatures, a random sample check will be performed. WAmend’s target is to submit at least 320,000 signatures.

Once I-735 has qualified, it will go before the 2016 Legislature for their consideration. If they do not adopt it as law, then it will appear on the November 2016 presidential ballot to be decided by voters.

Qualifying I-735 is a huge accomplishment that we should all take pride in, for we as an organization participated in the I-735 signature drive. The vast majority of the signatures were collected by dedicated, tireless volunteers like Linda Bock (who personally collected some 21,000 signatures!) This triumph is a fantastic way to begin the New Year.

I hope you will join me in congratulating the WAmend team and raising a toast to this victory as we ring in 2016. Don’t forget to get those petitions in if you still have any!