October 18, 2010

Letter to the Editor: If an initiative passes, is it really what 'the people' want?

Regarding your recent article published Oct.13 titled “Eyman, businesses back tax roadblock,” I would like to initiate my response with a question. If all initiatives are effectively passed by a minority of registered voters, can Mr. Eyman or anyone truly say what the “voters” want?

It is a simple mathematical fact that as long as voter turnout stays abysmally low, no initiative stands a chance of being passed by a majority of the registered voters. It is a determined minority that gets any initiative passed. It will be a minority of Washington voters who will decide if I-1053's supermajority requirements shackle the legislature and overly empower the minority opinion in both houses.

Currently, there are just fewer than 3.6 million registered voters in Washington state. Sadly 40.9 percent or a little over 1,470,000 registered voters cast their ballots in the last primary election. A smaller percentage of those actually bothered to cast ballots for Justice Jim Johnson's bid for the State Supreme Court. Consequently, Justice Johnson's winning plurality of 61.8 percent translates to only 19 percent of the registered voters actually supporting him. Unfortunately, the same reality governs our initiative process.

In the last presidential election, 84.6 percent of Washington's registered voters exercised their right to vote. With 2010 being an off-year election, predictions have the voter turnout hovering around 66 percent, or roughly 2.3 million likely voters. In order for an initiative to become law it has to receive only a smidgeon over 50 percent of those voting on the measure. Assuming that all 2.3 million possible voters cast ballots for every initiative, only a squeak over 1.15 million people will need to vote for an initiative for it to pass. Those 1,150,001 voters equal 32 percent of the registered voters. Even if an initiative would garner a 60 percent yes vote that would still mean only 38 percent of the registered voters had said yes that they wanted the initiative to become law.

Since Mr. Eyman's initiative is bankrolled by corporate dollars, and other initiatives are the spawn of businesses such as Costco and Wal-Mart seeking legalized competitive advantages over less sizable business structures, I find myself asking another question: is the current reality of our initiative process what the crafters of the state's constitution had in mind when they wrote, “The first power reserved by the people is the initiative…”

David Clifton

Seattle

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