On September 3, a Washington State Superior Court in Thurston County ruled that the Secretary of State may release the names and addresses of the people who signed various initiative petitions circulated by Tim Eyman, over the last ten years. Last year, Eyman had filed a lawsuit to keep the information private. It is Eyman v Reed, 09-2-02447-0.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Doe v Reed that people who sign ballot measure petitions have no automatic federal constitutional right to keep the information from being released to the public. But, the U.S. Supreme Court also said that if the signers can show they are likely to be injured if the information is released, then they do have privacy protection. In the case of the various Eyman tax initiatives, no one alleged that the signers would be harmed. The question of whether the names and addresses of people who signed the petition against same-sex civil unions is still pending in U.S. District Court.
How many petition related death threats and actual deaths (or lesser crimes and torts) are enough for the party hack Supremes to detect a problem ???
No matter where you stand on gay marriage, ALL of us who value our individual freedom and privacy should oppose the info of anybody who signs a petition from being released into the public.
It is wrong and a horrible invasion of privacy to do such a thing, and it is fascist, anti-democratic, and especially anti-American! The people who are trying to push for this ought to visit North Korea to understand just what their actions will lead to.
How many folks signed a public petition opposing / supporting the King George III regime in 1760-1783 in the 13 colonies – later States ???
How many of them got KILLED / imprisoned for so signing any such petition ???
Way too difficult for the party hack SCOTUS MORONS to understand.
Thus – yet one more election related constitutional amendment is now ABSOLUTELY required — an ABSOLUTE right to secrecy in signing public petitions of ANY type — issues, candidates, whatever ??? Duh.