This release is from David Ammons, communications director for the Secretary of State.

Backers of two citizen initiatives have submitted signatures far in excess of the 241,000 bare minimum, and appear to be in good position to make the November statewide ballot. That would bring to six the number of state propositions facing the voters, including gay marriage and marijuana decriminalization.

Backers of Initiative 1240, the proposal to authorize charter schools in Washington, brought in an estimated 350,000-plus signatures to the Secretary of State’s Elections Division. Then 90 minutes later, Tim Eyman and other sponsors submitted an estimated 318,000 signatures for I-1185, to restate the two-thirds vote requirement for taxes and fees passed in Olympia.

Both are widely expected to make the fall ballot, but the Elections Division will do a careful random sample to assure that over 241,000 valid signatures were turned in by Friday’s deadline. The Elections Division has recommended all initiative sponsors to bring in about 320,000 to cover the usual duplicates and invalid signatures. Both would appear to have met that test.

If both indeed qualify, that would make six ballot propositions for voters to consider.

Neither charter schools nor two-thirds-for-taxes is a new issue for voters. This is the fourth attempt by charter school backers to gain voter approval. They came close in 2000 (48.2 percent yes, 51.8 percent no), and lost by large margins in 1996 and 2004.  Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are independently managed by nonprofit organizations and overseen by a local school board or by a state charter school commission. Washington would be the 42^nd state to authorize charters, with a maximum of 40 schools formed over a five-year period

This is Eyman’s third initiative dealing with the tax vote requirement and the fifth time overall that voters have dealt with the issue.  All four previous measures passed, including Eyman’s I-960 in 2007 and I-1053 in 2010, and I-601 in 1993 and Referendum 49 in 1998.

The other measures heading to the ballot are:

• Referendum 74, a vote on whether to approve or reject the state’s new law authorizing civil marriage for same-sex couples.  The bill was Senate Bill 6239.
• Initiative 502, decriminalizing marijuana sales and use by adults, is already on the ballot. It was an initiative to the Legislature, but lawmakers did not take it up, so it was guaranteed a public vote this fall.
• Two non-controversial constitutional amendments were placed on the ballot by the Legislature. One, SJR8221, would implement changes in use of state bond debt, and the other, SJR8223, deals with investments by the University of Washington and Washington State University.