The Petitions Were Honeycombed With Fraud—So Voters Got Referendum No. 3
After the Washington Supreme Court described initiative petitions as a 'house of cards' riddled with fraud, the 1915 Legislature passed a safeguard now before voters as Referendum No. 3.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
WHEN the last legislature assembled one of the things that was promptly called to the attention of the members was the decision of the supreme court calling upon, if not in fact instructing so far as the court might properly do so, the legislature to pass a law to protect the initiative and referendum amendment to the constitution from fraud. The court found in a case before it that it was in a position where it could not act, even though it found certain initiative petitions were honeycombed with fraud. Therefore, the court called upon the legislature to pass a measure that would guard the initiative and referendum amendment providing for direct legislation which the people themselves had adopted, barring such frauds in the future. As a result of this court mandate, House Bill No. 120, printed on page 186, Session Laws of 1915, was passed. That the constitutional amendment was not sufficiently safeguarded was apparent in 1914, when supreme judges called attention to the frauds, and Judge Chadwick wrote an opinion in which this language appears:
'I have written my opinion of the proceedings attending the preparation and filing of the petitions in these cases so that when the legislature is convened it will show that it has been judicially held that certified fraud is legal fraud; that its former act has no gates to shut out frauds and forgeries and that the citadel of truth and honesty that it undertook to build around the constitutional amendment permitting and encouraging legislation is a house of cards.'
Following the suggestion of the supreme court, the legislature of 1915 passed a bill which is now submitted to the people as Referendum No. 3.
Taxpaying citizens, people engaged in business, or those having established places of residence, are finding no objection to the provisions requiring signers of initiative or referendum petitions to be legal voters. Registration is the only means whereby the standing of voters can be established. In fact, registration by all voters is the only means of protecting legal voters from fraud.
The frauds practiced have brought discredit to the principle of direct legislation and all real friends of the initiative and referendum are in favor of just and reasonable regulations and will vote 'YES' on election day.
“certified fraud is legal fraud; ... the citadel of truth and honesty ... is a house of cards.”
A century later, Washington still argues over signature verification, paid signature gatherers and whether direct democracy can be gamed. The 1916 fight shows the same tension: trust the people, but police the petitions.
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