The Clark County Charter Review Commission, an elected body of 15 members, has passed an amendment to lower the initiative signature requirement from 10% to 8% in Clark County. This amendment, sponsored by Kathy Garber, Secretary of the Commission, aims to reduce barriers to citizen participation by making it easier to use the initiative and referendum powers already provided.
Amendment Details
The proposed amendment would also allow for the transfer of signatures from an unsuccessful initiative petition to a mini-initiative if the required 3% of valid signatures have been obtained. Additionally, signatures required for petitions only affecting unincorporated Clark County would be calculated using the same method as petitions for the entire county. The county auditor may use random statistical sampling to verify signatures by sampling no less than 3,000 signatures submitted.
No petition may be rejected solely based on statistical sampling. Garber noted that this proposal would make a modest change to improve the likelihood that initiative petitions could qualify, as no citizen petition has reached the ballot since Clark County adopted Home Rule in 2014.
Original reporting: Clark County Today (Vancouver WA) — read the source article.
